deltablue Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 unlucky in Europe, hopefully you can push on in the league and qualify again You started off in the group stage so well, Unlucky. Hope form returns for you in the league. Thanks guys. Unfortunately our good start both in the league and in Europe seems a lifetime away as having played through a lot of the second-half of the season we've remained really mediocre, going out of the cup with as much of a pathetic whimper as we did Europe. I've definitely got a lot to think about right now in terms of the future of the career, and I'll expand on that later when I've posted the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Feb/Mar 2020 Jihlava 3-0 Slavia Prague (D1) We emerged from winter at Jihlava and went behind in the 2nd minute. There weren’t many positives even before both Kalinin and Ildemar went off injured (with Patras already out) and they finished us off with 2 late goals. Slavia Prague 2-0 Mlada Boleslav (D1) We went behind early again against Mlada Boleslav, then had Guba sent off. Again we never looked like getting anything (though we were a bit better than the last game) and they got another in the last minute. Banik Ostrava 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (2), Kalinin We made a very welcome return to form at Banik. Bochorishvili had been especially disappointing and gave us the lead after 12 minutes. Kalinin was our second-highest scorer of the season (as a BWM oddly enough, he gets on the end of a lot of crosses) and got his 11th in the 26th minute. A Bochorishvili penalty in the 65th minute finished a convincing win that contrasted considerably with our string of dire recent performances. Slavia Prague 1-2 Teplice (D1) Bochorishvili Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 25th minute, shortly after having a goal disallowed. Unfortunately the defence didn’t really turn up, shipping an equalizer 10 minutes later and a losing goal after 80 minutes. Bohemians 1905 0-2 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili, Zaytsev Bochorishvili gave us the lead again in the 13th minute at Bohemians 1905. This time we not only held firm but built on with Zaytsev’s first Slavia goal in the 29th minute. For 1.2M I was expecting a lot more to come from the 18yr old Belarusian. Apr 2020 Slavia Prague 0-0 Jablonec (D1) We got a little lucky against Jablonec when they had an 8th minute disallowed goal but otherwise we kept it even against my second most disliked opponents and while we might have snatched a win I couldn’t complain too much with a draw. Ceske Budejovice 2-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Arthur, Bochorishvili, Jose Carlos We went behind after 5 minutes at Ceske Budejovice, and through Arthur headed in a corner to equalize they had the lead again just before half-time. Latsuzbaia went off injured leaving us a man down and that seemed to be that but Bochorishvili equalized in the 66th minute and Jose Carlos got a winner with 10 minutes left! Banik Ostrava 1-1 Slavia Prague (CFC QF) Vesely We went to Banik for the first leg of the Quarter-final and were unlucky not to go ahead in the first-half. We lost momentum in the second but still took the lead from Vesely after 70 minutes. The earlier wasted chances cost us as we couldn’t quite hold on, conceding an equalizer in stoppage time. Slavia Prague 0-2 Hradec Kralove (D1) Our mediocre league form continued against Hradec Kralove, a game of wasted chances on both sides but they managed to score in the 10th minute and were gifted another from a Kamenar own-goal in the 6th (!) minute of added time. Slavia Prague 0-1 (1-2) Banik Ostrava (CFC QF) We fell out of the cup with a whimper, even if you count the lost seasons it’s probably the only time we failed to make the semis as a top-flight side. We had 3 shots, none of target while they went through with a goal a few minutes from half-time. Pathetic. Sigma Olomouc 1-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Jose Carlos We fell behind after 20 minutes at Sigma Olomouc and looked like falling to another lame defeat. Jose Carlos equalized 10 minutes later which gave us some life but Zaytsev was making an awful start to life at Eden and failed to give us a winner. May/June 2020 Sparta Prague 3-0 Slavia Prague (D1) I wasn’t looking forward to the away derby, and sure enough we went behind after 20 minutes. It stayed that way for most of the match but they got two more at the end. Slavia Prague 3-0 Sokolov (D1) Bochorishvili (3) Sokolov should have been an easy win but we could barely rouse ourselves in the first half. Bochorishvili had been notoriously inconsistent this year but a half-time kick up the backside got him going for the first time in a while. He gave us the lead in the 62nd minute, scored a penalty 11 minutes later and finished off a 3-0 win from open play in the 84th minute. That took him to 18 goals in 24 league games this season but it could easily have been so much more when it could have mattered. Slavia Prague 2-2 Slovan Liberec (D1) Silny, Jose Carlos We seemed to be waking up near the end of the season and a Silny header gave us the lead in the 15th minute against Slovan Liberec, who were looking like finishing 2nd. They caught us out shortly before half-time but Jose Carlos scored in the 72nd minute and we looked on course for a deserved win. Unfortunately Arthur went off injured leaving a hole in defence and they cruelly denied us in the last minute. Slavia Prague 3-1 Viktoria Plzen (D1) Patras, Vesely, Jose Carlos Patras was the key man against Plzen in more ways than one. He gave us the lead in the 8th minute but after holding firm, his own-goal in the 55th minute gave them the equalizer. Thankfully he went from zero back to hero again, his corner being headed in by Vesely with a few minutes left with time for him to set up Jose Carlos as we won 3-1. Most 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (2), Jose Carlos The trip to Most was a far cry from the limp home defeat in November, Bochorishvili giving us a 10th minute lead. He had one disallowed but still set up Jose Carlos in the 29th minute and got his second goal 10 minutes later. Jose Carlos had his own goal disallowed but we cruised to victory. Slavia Prague 2-1 Vitkovice (D1) Bochorishvili (2) We finished the season against Vitkovice, battering them most of the time, again in contrast to the reverse fixture. Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 5th minute, eventually getting another in the 78th minute. A penalty narrowed it 10 minutes later and made it look closer than it was. This season was sort of like the reverse of the last one, starting off with a bang, suddenly limping through months of mediocrity before picking up too late for it to matter. 6th was the limit of our ambitions by that point and while we weren’t far off 4th, that wouldn’t have been enough for European qualification. What was really frustrating about the cup was that Sparta were knocked out in the quarters as well and two Second Division sides were still in (one making the final) so a second cup win could easily have been on the cards. Next year is going to be critical. There’s no point setting myself up to fail year after year to get anywhere near by achievements at Slavia first time. A chunk of the squad is still very young and the potential is still very much there, and it would be a pity to give up on it prematurely. I’m coming up to ‘stay or go’ time so I really hope we can step up and find some more consistency. Star Player: For all his goals, Bochorishvili was often so anonymous that he could be used in a training video for the Georgian security services leaving Patras as the flagbearer for being (mostly) good all year round. Squad Stats Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 OK, so I have two major decisions to make regarding the direction of the career. The first is short-term. I set a very high bar for myself at Slavia last time and a failure to reclaim the title (which was pretty much the hardest of the lost trophies to win again given that Sparta are so often very dominant, as it's looking now) which is making a failure to challenge a lot more frustrating than it otherwise would be. I've been thinking about whether it would be better to leave soon and try something new rather than have that pressure weighing on me, though the good end to last season has helped me feel a little more confident. There's also the fact that it took 'just' 12 seasons and 2 clubs to jump to a club like Juventus and while I'm glad that it wasn't such a long struggle as in past careers it would still be nice to have a slightly more gradual and varied route. I had mentioned before that I'd been thinking of Brazil and Argentina for a while and hoped to take that opportunity after Slavia. I've certainly been regularly linked to the big clubs there so it's certainly a realistic goal which helps. The clubs I've also been linked with have also thrown up some interesting possibilities, including relatively smaller clubs in big leagues and big clubs in slightly smaller leagues, Zenit, Besiktas, Getafe and especially Monchengladbach being reasonably tempting places, especially as most Brazilian clubs have a lot of loan debt. I'll definitely stay one more year in Prague but if I do need something fresh then I should have some good choices. In the long term there's the question of what to do if/when I can recover the data off the hard-drive of my other laptop. A friend of mine can help me do that but I have to wait until around the end of the month as he's very busy and I need to wait for him to finish a project then take time off work so I can go and see him. The problem is with a few corrupted files preventing the OS loading properly (probably because I 'force restarted', which was my usual way of doing it, while something must have been updating, or at least that's his theory, he's the expert not me) and everything else is probably intact and if he connects it to his computer as a second drive I should be able to access everything, with the save file being admitedly one of very few things in need of rescuing and nothing of any real importance, which is why I wasn't backing up that often. I had thought that I'd be well into the 'continued' career and just keep going as I was but since things haven't quite been going to plan I might well want to pick up from where I left off originally, especially the position I was in when I'd just won the Euro's, had a lot more Slavia success and after a lot of time and effort, my Juventus side had finally matured and was just a whisker away from the title at last, which is a lot to give up on if I'm not really into the career again by that point. It's a bridge to cross when I come to it but one I can't help but keep planning for. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Argentina is fun for a couple of seasons or so; I'd go there There's no point crossing the other bridge until you know for definite there's something on the other side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Argentina is fun for a couple of seasons or so; I'd go there There's no point crossing the other bridge until you know for definite there's something on the other side. There's definitely something on the other side, wherever that is, the question is whether this side still has something to offer. For a while it didn't seem like it but things have turned a corner. Argentina seems like a great idea, took a look around in the save and Argentine clubs look in very good shape right now, looking pretty wealthy (Boca are 39th in the world at 76M followed immediately by Independiente and Estudiantes at 74M, River are a bit further back with Velez and one other club in the top 100), with a some genuinely good players around and it's always going to be a great well of talent to tap into. If I do continue from this point on in the long term, as opposed to restarting from a recovered save file, then it'll definitely be high on my list of places to go after Prague. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Summer 2020 The summer started with some good news. Due to our good financial position (with about 8.5M in the bank) I had a transfer budget of 2.8M, and wage budget of just over 60kpw which was about double the actual wage bill, giving me plenty of room to push the budgetary boat out a lot more. Unfortunately any ability I may have had to spend liberally was very soon thrown out of the window. I almost immediately saw a fantastic goalkeeper in Bosnia... however much like Zaytsev last year, he was injured which meant I couldn’t make a move right away. However the Czech window lasts until the end of September and though it would be a very close call, I hoped to be able to get him then, and even if I couldn’t I’d try and make a deal ASAP for a January transfer so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of money for him so was pretty careful about what I spent in the meantime. However I was still able to be pretty active. The star attraction was undoubtedly Godwin, a Nigerian winger who I also bought last time and was fantastic, and hopefully he can repeat his admittedly time-wiped success. There were still a couple of downsides. Even without the hopefully impending arrival of the aforementioned keeper (who is Sudanese) the release of Juninho and Ildemar getting citizenship we’re still a little heavy on non-eu players, and there was also the fact that his agent drove such a tough bargain, and I had to add a lot of high extras to get him to raise a potential minimum release clause to 1M, which was still in danger of being activated but was 3 times as much as he was originally insisting on so it was still a triumph of sorts. I was also able to grab a couple more very promising young Czechs which admittedly left us rather overcrowded in the defensive positions and I would have so sell players in the short term but it’s nice having all the options since not everyone will succeed and liberally tapping into the well of domestic talent is always a good idea. I also had another central defender/midfielder in the youth intake, taking me to 6 players with that very same position set, with Tadic making a 7th who can also play on the right, and while he can’t play in cental defence, Gryshyn makes for an 8th defender/midfielder so it’s not like I’m short on players like that. As for players I already had, I’d be looking to give the 17yr old forward Balaz his opportunity this season. I was hoping that a lack of European football would help us have a much better season, and we definitely looked a stronger side, maybe capable of having turned a real corner. What precisely that meant in terms of specific achievements I don’t know but an improved year would definitely keep me in Prague for a while longer. Signings Promoted Youth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Jul/Aug 2019 Slavia Prague 4-1 Jihlava (D1) Jose Carlos (2), Zaytsev (2) The season started against Jihlava, and though we had Bochorisvili out for the first few weeks, Jose Carlos and Zaytsev made a great combination. The Brazilian gave us the lead in the 7th minute, with the Belarusian getting a brace late in the half, already giving him twice as many goals this season as in his first half-season at Eden. Jose Carlos scored again in the hour mark and a late consolation didn’t do much to spoil a very promising start. Mlada Boleslav 0-0 Slavia Prague (D1) We were on the back foot at Mlada Boleslav throughout the entire game and were very lucky to hold out for a 0-0 draw. Slavia Prague 4-0 Bohemians Prague (D1) Jose Carlos (2), Latsuzbaia, Vesely In contrast we easily saw off Bohemians. Jose Carlos gave us a 27th minute lead with Latsuzbaia adding another before the break. Vesely got the 3rd in the 58th minute and his free-kick 10 minutes later was headed in by Jose Carlos for a 4-0 win. Banik Ostrava 0-0 Slavia Prague (D1) Banik was an early top of the table trip and it was hectic from the start. As the game wore on we took the upper hand and it was disappointing to fail to get the win. Slavia Prague 3-0 Zlin (D1) Zaytsev (2) We easily beat Zlin, an own-goal giving us the lead in the 27th minute. Zaytsev extended the lead in the 40th minute and wrapped it up with 15 minutes left. Jablonec 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Godwin, Zaytsev Jablonec was another early top of the table away game but we showed no fear and were rewarded by Godwin giving us the lead in the 27th minute. Things got even better as another chance by the Nigerian winger was deflected in for 2-0 in the 52nd minute and Zaytsev sealed a commanding win in the 86th minute. Slavia Prague 2-0 Ceske Budejovice (D1) Zaytsev (2) Our great start to the season continued against Ceske Budejovice. Zaytsev took his tally to 7 goals in as many games so far with a brace in the first half an hour which was easily enough. Sept 2020 Trebon 0-7 Slavia Prague (CFC R2) Godwin, Srom (3), Bochorishvili, Koutouan, Ildemar It took just 15 seconds for Godwin to give us the lead at Trebon in the cup. Srom gave us another after 10 minutes and scored his second just before half-time, Bochorishvili and Ivorian defender Koutouan scoring in the meantime. Ildemar scored the 6th in the 70th minute and a Srom penalty rounded off a 7-0 win in stoppage time. Hradec Kralove 1-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Zaytsev I managed to get the El-Tahir, the keeper I was after in the international break and with Vyskocil injured I had to throw him in despite a severe lack of fitness at Hradec Kralove. He was called into action immediately, saving a shot but conceding (just our second goal conceded in 8 games) the follow up just a minute in. Bochorishvili set up Zaytsev to equalize in the 23rd minute (meaning the Belarusian still had 4 times as many goals as all our opponents combined) and although we looked to get a winner we couldn’t quite. Unfortunately we lost Srom, Gryshyn and Zaytsev for a couple of weeks due to knocks. Slavia Prague 2-1 Sigma Olomouc (D1) Bochorishvili I still expected a win against Sigma, who were bottom, and a 7th minute own-goal gave us the lead. We were unfortunate that Patrik Balaz had what would have been his first goal for the club disallowed, then they equalized in the 29th minute. Bochorishvili restored the lead in the 50th minute but they pushed hard late on and we were thankful that the referee decided to level the disallowed goal count to deny them an equalizer. Karlovy Vary-Dvory 0-5 Slavia Prague (CFC R3) Vesely (2), Bochorishvili, Ildemar, Godwin Karlovy Vary-Dvory were our next easy cup opponents. Vesely gave us the lead in the 8th minute, Bochorishvili getting another and Vesely got his second just 10 minutes after his first. Ildemar and Godwin sealed it early in the second-half. Teplice 1-4 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (3), Ogar We went behind in the 24th minute at Teplice but the game turned in our favour when Bochorishvili equalized on the stroke of half-time. Ildemar got sent off but Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 52nd minute anyway. Zaytsev had a 3rd disallowed but Bochorishvili completed a hat-trick and Ogar finished off a 4-1 win. Oct 2020 Slovan Liberec 2-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Zaytsev We were neck and neck with Slovan at the top and went there next. Unfortunately we were poor in the first-half and went behind in the 12th minute. We managed to get our act together in the second-half, Zaytsev deservedly equalizing in the 69th minute but while a draw would have been a great result, it didn’t quite happen. Ildemar’s suspension and Latsuzbaia being unfit after an injury meant Jan Balaz had to fill in for the playmaker position (and I’d made a tactical error not making him deep-lying) and he went off injured late on, helping them get an 88th minute winner in a tense finale, ending our run of 15 games without defeat (the equivalent of half a season) which was disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Slavia Prague 1-0 Sparta Prague (D1) 400th career game! I was still reasonably confident ahead of the derby, which was also my 400th career match. We were under a great deal of pressure early on but Bochorishvili snuck us ahead on the 12th minute. It eased off eventually but failed to put it to bed, which thankfully wasn’t costly. The following day Slovan lost at Teplice to put us top on goal difference again! Viktoria Plzen 0-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Jose Carlos Slovan lost again at Sparta (which I hoped wouldn’t mean they’d charge into the equation) meaning the pressure was off when we went to Plzen, which was probably just as well as we had the pressure but no real end product, thankfully managing to snatch the win from Jose Carlos in the nick of time. Pribam 0-4 Slavia Prague (CFC R4) Zaytsev, Jose Carlos, Kalinin (2) A kind cup draw had given us non-league Pribam in the last 16 and dealt with them with the minimum of fuss in the away leg. Zaytsev gave us the lead in the 25th minute and we pushed on after the break with Jose Carlos and a Kalinin brace seeing us through even before the second leg. It's been fantastic so far, though admittedly no more than I knew we could potentially be, it was just a matter of how close we could get to fulfulling that potential and when. I was worried that Sparta would win titles easily for a while but a less than impressive start has left the door open this season. It's been tight so far but I'm obviously very happy to be 3 points clear at the top as we come up to the half-way point. Slovan Liberec were 2nd last season and looked like a strong potential challenger and while they've dropped off slightly after beating us they still very much could be. Sparta on the other hand have got their form up and will probably keep closing in, while Jablonec remain a strong 'there or thereabouts' side, giving us a potential 4-way race. It's going to be a tough one, but aside from the fact that we have the advantage, we've already had our away games against 2 of our 3 rivals, as well as against potentially tricky Banik Ostrava and Mlada Boleslav sides, meaning that a lot of the worst games on paper have already been dealt with, which might help us keep going until the end. There is far more at stake than just a title. Having won the title at Slavia originally, being able to do it this time could well be a deciding factor in which version of the save I continue with if I can access the old file. We've definitely got something very good going on here right now so even if we don't quite do it this season it'll be worth staying on for a bit to keep trying, though I think this year is the best chance we're going to get so really hope we're able to take advantage of it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 The indifferent form of last season looks like a distant memory. Your defence looks tighter than a ducks rear end too, always good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Heath Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 great start, hope you can keep it up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 The indifferent form of last season looks like a distant memory. Your defence looks tighter than a ducks rear end too, always good. great start, hope you can keep it up It really is fantastic when after a few years tings finally click like this. We've been fantastic at both ends and while I do try not to get carried away, it's hard not to get excited (I was going to see if I could go all the way to the end today but that seems unlikely). We comfortably won our remaining 3 games before the winter break an are 5 points clear just past the half-way point. Unfortunately the chairman has just done something monumentally stupid... I knew a club would come in for Zaytsev before too long but the chairman decided to sell him during the break! It was inevitable but three problems with that. The first was that the fee was just too low. Twice what we paid for him and the chairman interference threshold should be higher than that. Secondly there's form, as he had 16 goals in 18 games for us this season. The final problem is one of timing. Couldn't you have waited until summer you moron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If Bochorishvili and Jose Carlos stay fit and on form than we shouldn't be weakened much, especially with morale and momentum on our side and a bunch of other players performing really well but if they can't than we might find ourselves under a lot of pressure at the top soon. I've got plenty of time and budget to try and find another good forward (which I'm doing right now) but with Bochorishvili also looking like leaving at the end of the season it looks like it's all or nothing this year. Edit: OK unfortunately he's now let the Saudi's take Srom, and after the end of our transfer window as well!!!! Someone should really tell this guy that having good business sense in football can also mean not weakening a side that could potentially win the title. This might potentially be a bit more of a problem with the non-European restrictions (which means it's not as simple as just putting Ogar in, especially since I need to use one of the 3 slots up front with Koutouan and Godwin also being very strong candidates for the other 2 positions the way they've shone this season, to say nothing of El-Tahir as a first-choice keeper in waiting!) and the very promising Smolcic is very young and inexperienced. Gryshyn has been in training to play on the left and is competent now but that then means I need to fill the gap on the right. Agrain I have a good young option or two but no one (aside from Ogar, again) of proven quality. I really hope we can go on and win the title now otherwise I'll be leaving Slavia at the end of the season under a very serious cloud indeed. I was in such an optimistic mood before this as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 January Transfer Update Unfortunately the loss of Zaytsev meant I had to move at short notice (I thought the window would extend to February like in other countries with a long winter break but it doesn't) for a good forward who might be a good source of goals. I was hoping for a European as juggling the non-eu players was tough enough as it was but I was slightly out of luck, getting in a dangerous-looking Angolan (from Belarus, oddly enough) who has shone but otherwise been annoyingly inconsistent, though I also found I could get a player from Teplice who had caught my eye in the autumn and who could play in various positions. 400k from Minsk 350k from Teplice Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 Nov 2020 Slavia Prague 2-0 Most (D1) Godwin, Zaytsev We stumbled badly over Most and Vitkovice last year but had a far better time this season. An injury to Ogar actually worked in our favour in terms of allowing Godwin to play again under the non-eu restrictions (Jose Carlos had earned the last slot for the past few games with Patras in on the wing to compensate. It will help that Ogar will be able to get citizenship next year so won’t take up one of those slots) and he gave us the lead in the 15th minute, then set up Zaytsev (who was ironically just about to be taken off for a poor game) in the 55th. Vitkovice 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Zaytsev (2), Godwin Vitkovice seemed tough to break through at first but then the ‘Belarusian Bomber’ hit the target. Zaytsev gave us a long-awaited breakthrough in the 39th minute, with another on the stroke of half-time and Godwin sealed a 3-0 win in the 65th minute. Slavia Prague 5-0 (9-0) Pribam (CFC R4) Jose Carlos, Zaytsev (2), Srom We wrapped up the Pribam tie in style. Jose Carlos gave us the lead after 35 minutes, and first half stoppage time saw another shot of his deflected in for an own-goal and Zaytsev getting a 3rd. Zaytsev scored again in the 59th minute with a Srom penalty sealing a 9-0 aggregate win. Jihlava 0-4 Slavia Prague (D1) Zaytsev, Godwin, Jose Carlos, Vesely Someone decided it was a good idea to give us a trip to Jihlava just 2 days after the cup (though Slovan were in a similar boat) but we managed fine in the end. After a messy start, Prague’s favourite Belarusian (an admittedly narrow field) gave us the lead in the 33rd minute. Godwin and Jose Carlos also scored before-half time and Vesely finished it off with 15 minutes left (though Zaytsev missed a penalty afterwards) and we went into the winter break with a 5 point lead. Feb/Mar 2021 Slavia Prague 3-1 Banik Ostrava (D1) Jose Carlos (2), Vesely We resumed the season with a couple of potential home banana-skins, especially without being able to call on Zaytsev’s goals anymore. Banik were first and it didn’t start well as we went behind in the 2nd minute. We were able to come back though. Jose Carlos equalized in the 16th minute and Vesely headed us unto a 28th minute lead. They threatened to equalize for a while but Jose Carlos scored again in the 62nd minute and we were pretty safe after that. Our league lead was extended by an extra point as well. Slavia Prague 4-0 Mlada Boleslav (D1) Guba, Campos (3) Jose Carlos went off injured early on against Mlada Boleslav but Guba still gave us the lead in the 20th minute. New Angolan forward Campos scored just 7 minutes after coming on, getting 2 more in the second-half to cap an incredible debut! Unfortunately he’d have to keep it up as Jose Carlos would be out for the rest of the season. Bohemians Prague 2-3 Slavia Prague (D1 Godwin, Bochorishvili (2) We moved an extra point ahead but now it was the seriously in-form Sparta in 2nd. Sparta kept winning which kept the pressure on (7 point gap notwithstanding as I felt that could go very quickly if we started dropping a bunch of points. It’s the sort of gap that looks narrower when you’re trying to defend it than chase it) and though Godwin gave us a 13th minute lead at Bohemians we still had a tough time at the other end as they threatened and even had an equalizer disallowed. We regained the initiative in the second-half, a Bochorishvili brace (the second from a penalty) giving us a 3-0 lead by the 79th minute which was just as well as they scored two late goals (only the second time we’ve conceded more than once this season after the Slovan defeat) to make it close in the end. Zlin 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (2), P.Balaz We rolled on at Zlin. Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 36th minute, making it pretty safe in the 67th minute. Patrik Balaz sealed it in the penultimate minute. Slavia Prague 0-0 Jablonec (D1) Sparta finally dropped points giving us a 9-point advantage ahead of a potentially tricky Jablonec game. We failed to do much in the first half and though we managed a few chances in the second-half we weren’t good up front so had to settle for 0-0 and the gap returned to 7 points with 9 games left. Apr 2021 Ceske Budejovice 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Campos (2), Ildemar Sparta played before us again and won before we went to Ceske Budejovice. Campos gave us the lead in the 14th minute but they were troublesome throughout the half and easily could have equalized until Ildemar scored in stoppage time. Campos scored again in the 74th minute as we were comfortable in the end. Slavia Prague 2-2 Hradec Kralove (D1) Campos, Bochorishvili We had a lot of trouble against Hradec Kralove, going behind after 20 minutes. Campos equalized in the 40th minute and though Koutouan got sent off, Bochorishvili put us ahead in the 66th minute. The numbers were evened up but that didn’t stop then snatching an agonising equalizer with just a minute left of the 90. Banik Ostrava 1-1 Slavia Prague (CFC QF) We went to Banik for the first leg of the cup quarter-final. An own-goal gave us the lead in the 7th minute but we failed to do much off our own back and an 82nd minute equallizer left the tie in the balance. Sigma Olomouc 1-0 Slavia Prague (D1) We had the crucial away derby coming up so we needed to win at Sigma. Unfortunately while we put them under a lot of pressure, we couldn’t quite break through. They were good in their own-right and it hit us with a last-minute winner. Lose to Sparta and we’d lose top spot. Slavia Prague 0-1 (1-2) Banik Ostrava (CFC QF) Before that we had the home leg against Banik. We had the chances but wasted them. 0-0 would have taken us through on away goals but no such luck as they got an 87th minute winner. Sparta Prague 0-0 Slavia Prague (D1) Confidence was pretty low ahead of the derby and it didn’t help that Bochorisvili and Latsuzbaia went off injured in the first 21 minutes, though what they had against Georgians was beyond me. Even at the start of the game I’d have taken a draw, no questions asked and while we were inevitably under a lot of pressure we somehow managed to resist and had our moments at the other end. I got very worried as in the last 10 minutes, Kalinin, Ogar and Ildemar went off injured but despite finishing the game with 8 men we got the most glorious point I could have ever wished for. Unfortunately Kalinin, Ogar and Bochorishvili (worst of all) would be out for the run-in. Well, we were able to keep going for a while but April was not a good month and as I expected, Sparta closed right up. After the Sigma defeat I actually thought 'Right, Sparta will probably beat us and take the lead now' so words can't describe how relieved I was to hold on and stay ahead, especially with a relatively comfortable run-in, I felt surviving up to that point was key. Unfortunately it was costly. I said after Zaytsev was sold that we needed Jose Carlos and Bochorishvili fit and on form and now we don't have either, relying on the brilliant but inconsistent Campos and the untested potential of Balaz and Kral. If we do this it'll be an incredible victory against all odds. Fixtures Slavia: Teplice (h) Slovan Liberec (h) Viktoria Plzen (h) Most (a) Vitkovice (h) Sparta Hradec Kralove (h) Sigma Olomouc (a) Slovan Liberec (a) Teplice (h) Viktoria Plzen (h) We've probably got the easier run-in but at the same time there's very little in Sparta's remaining fixtures that would give them much trouble, especially given their incredible form in recent months, which I knew would be coming. Slovan away might be a potential stumbling block for them, and the fact that being in the cup they'll probably have 3 more fixtures squeezed into a little over a month but that's more hope than a confident prediction. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 May 2021 Slavia Prague 3-0 Teplice (D1) P.Balaz, Vesely, Kral We were handed a massive present just before Teplice when Sparta lost at home to Hradec Kralove and we took full advantage. Campos was unfortunately having a very wasteful day again but Balaz stepped up to the mark to give us the lead in the 34th minute. Vesely got another in the 55th minute and having come on for Campos, Kral marked his debut with a 74th minute goal against his old club. Slavia Prague 4-0 Slovan Liberec (D1) Guba, Campos (3) Slovan were the last potentially tough opponent, and one who Sparta thankfully had to go to. However we pulled off a champions performance. Guba gave us the lead in the 8th minute, and while they pushed to equalize, we hit them on the break with a 19th minute Campos goal. The Angolan had either been brilliant or anonymous so far and was thankfully very much the former as he got 2 more as we won 4-0! Best of all, Sparta drew at Sigma and even dropped behind Jablonec. We were 7 points ahead of them now and 6 of Jablonec with just 3 games left and I knew the title would be ours. Slavia Prague 5-0 Viktoria Plzen (D1) Campos, Ildemar, Koutouan, Vesely, Godwin Unfortunately a bunch of youth international call-ups denied us a load more players for the final few games. We had to sacrifice the left-back for a second winger and our only outfield subs were central defenders/defensive midfielders. However nothing was going stop us now as we clinched the title in style. Ildemar set up Campos for the first in the 10th minute then scored himself in the 43rd minute. It was then the turn of the defenders and Koutouan and Vesely made it 4-0 after 65 minutes and Godwin wrapped it up with a few minutes left. Jablonec could still draw level on points so the game wasn’t giving us the title yet but our goal difference meant that for me it was confirmed. Most 0-1 Slavia Prague (D1) P.Balaz Thankfully we had the internationals back (aside from the injured Smolcic) to go to Most. It wasn’t one of our best performances but it hardly needed to be and Balaz gave us the win anyway in the 83rd minute. Slavia Prague 2-0 Vitkovice (D1) Guba, Godwin The season ended against Vitkovice, and like Most it was a relatively subdued affair, which was a pity as it was my birthday (in-game) and I was hoping for more of a party. Guba headed us into the lead in the 5th minute with Godwin penalty after an hour being the only other goal. Yessssss!!!!!! I almost can’t believe it but we did it! It had hardly been an easy ride, at least off the pitch. Zaytsev and Srom had been sold over my head, Jose Carlos was injured shortly after and the injuries piled on against Sparta, with yet more players missing through international call-ups (definitely a major downside of having a promising young squad) late on, with Sparta charging up on us throughout the spring. However on the pitch, a bad month or so around April aside, we were just brilliant at both ends all year long. We deserved it without a doubt, the entire squad. This season demonstrated precisely why I’m still very much into this game as I was buzzing for most of it yet still had a lot of stress and drama to go through for a while. You guys should have seen how much I was beaming as Sparta suddenly fell away and left the path clear with a few games left. Such a contrast from last season, and while a good end to that season had lifted my spirits somewhat and it’s fair to say I’m very glad I didn’t give up then and decided to give it a little longer. Regaining the Czech title was one of the things I most wanted to do and now I’ve got it in this ‘reality’ as well I can continue on without much pressure and will probably play on this save even if I can recover the old one. I had been pondering whether to leave for Argentina even if I won the title, especially as Sparta are no doubt going to come back even stronger next time to retaining the title would be a very tall order, but you don’t know unless you try and I’d definitely like another cup or two and can definitely keep going here a little longer, especially as I’d gotten Bochorishvili to renew his contract, and his wage demands were easily low enough that I could comfortably afford to offer him a bit more in order to raise his release clause from a shockingly low 1M (clubs have bid a lot more for him in the past) to 5M, though I felt that Godwin’s would soon be activated, we shall see. Star players: Godwin was all I hoped he'd be. Hopefully he can stay longer as with Patras aging he's the 'quality winger in his prime' we really need right now. It would also only be right to recognize Vyskocil in goal. He was going to be replaced by El-Tahir but te foreign player rules. the latter's injury issues and his own good form meant that Vyskocil very much kept his place on merit, being very consistent and pulling off important saves and great performances in games you wouldn't expect him to be under enough pressure to shine. Squad Stats Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 Unfortunately as expected it took just a couple of weeks for Bordeaux to trigger Godwin's 1M clause. Oddly enough the news item mentioned chairman interference but I know it's not correct as it's only a year ago in game (and 2 days in real life) since I signed him and specifically managed to negotiate it up to that level. There is a bit of a silver lining though. We still have Patras and it's a great opportunity for Kral to establish himself, plus unless I get a non-European replacement, that and Ogar getting citizenship (which is due this year) will make it a lot easier with the non-eu restrictions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 Summer 2021 There wasn’t an awful lot that needed to be done this summer, even given Godwin’s departure after someone inevitably activated his clause in mid-June. There was already an end-of-contract signing of a good young defender (I’m pretty much cornering the market in those), followed at the start of July by a Bulgarian midfielder/winger, positions we needed more depth in especially as Patras and Kral would be injured at the start of the season. In the end there were a lot of players who were decent enough and who I might have gotten in earlier seasons but who didn’t seem worth it now, and a veteran French left-back was the only other signing. For once I do have a bit of a career plan. I’m hesitant to leave Prague right now because we’ve very much riding the crest of a wave but once it receeds then off to Argentina I’ll go. There are a handful of clubs that would be nice but I must admit there is a very specific club I’d most like to go to. Very early this season I actually got a very tempting offer from Velez (one of those clubs I’d be interested in) but I’d have taken another time but I don’t feel the time is quite right yet. After Argentina will be a big European league, and once I’ve reached the top with whichever fairly big name I hope to be able to choose then I’ll be free to just go with whatever interests me, which might include smaller (and even lower) leagues on occasion, especially given I have most of Europe loaded as usual and I can’t remove them. Signings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 Jul 2021 Slavia Prague 5-0 Rudar (CL Q2) Milanov, Idemar, Campos, Guba Our first CL game was at home to the Montenegrins of Rudar. New Bulgarian Milanov had a goal disallowed in the 24th minute but still deservedly gave us the lead in first-half stoppage time. We overran them in the second-half, Ildemar giving is another in the 53rd minute, Campos assisting an own-goal after an hour and getting one of his own a few minutes later, and Guba finished it off with a minute left, a very convincing start to the new season. Slavia Prague 3-0 Sparta Prague (CSC) Campos (2), Jurcik We beat Sparta comfortably in the Super Cup. Campos scored a brace in the first 26 minutes and with a 3rd goal long coming, we got it with a Jurcik header with 5 minutes left. Rudar 0-3 (0-8) Slavia Prague (CL Q2) Bochorishvili (2), Campos The return at Rudar was my 200th Slavia match and Bochorishvili got us going in the 4th minute. He thought he had another after 15 minutes only to see it disallowed, and we could easily have had a couple more by the time he did score again in the 42nd minute. Campos’s late 3rd gave us a winning margin that was the least we deserved. Bohemians Prague 1-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (2), Guba Our league defence started at Bohemians Prague, which was tough going at times but Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 39th minute. They equalized in the 60th minute but Bochorishvili soon restored the lead and Guba’s 79th minute header gave us a 3-1 win. Shamrock Rovers 1-4 Slavia Prague (CL Q3) Milanov, Koutouan, Jose Carlos (2) We went to Shamrock Rovers for the next round in the CL and Milanov gave us the lead in the 26th minute, followed 6 minutes later by Koutouan. They pulled a goal back but a Jose Carlos brace in the last 10 minutes gave us a comfortable away leg victory. Slavia Prague 2-0 Usti nad Labem (D1) Bochorishvili, Milanov A Bochorishvili penalty gave us the lead in the 29th minute against Usti nad Labem. Milanov extended it a few minutes later as we got a solid but unimpressive victory against the newly promoted side. Aug 2021 Slavia Prague 1-1 (5-2) Shamrock Rovers (CL Q3) Jose Carlos We had some bad news against Shamrock when Bochorishvili went off injured at the start and would be out for a couple of weeks, which I guess could have been a lot worse. Jose Carlos gave us the lead in the 8th minute but had another disallowed late in the half and they eventually equalized on the night, with 10 minutes left. We were comfortably through though. Banik Ostrava 3-1 Slavia Prague (D1( Ildemar Banik was a tough trip to make at this stage, with so much else going on, and we went behind in the 38th minute. Ildemar equalized in the 50th minute but they retook the lead in the 74th minute and sealed it with a stoppage time penalty. Slavia Prague 1-1 Brno (D1) Ogar I was wondering if tiredness was starting to creep in as we expected a comfortable win against Brno and didn’t get it. Ogar gave us the lead with a penalty in the 18th minute but Vesely own-goaled after half an hour to gift them an equalizer and we were under a lot of pressure afterwards to hold on to a point. Slavia Prague 0-0 RB Salzburg (CL PL) We played Red Bull Salzburg in the CL playoff round, the home leg just a couple of days after Brno, and while we had a few early chances we were under a lot of pressure for most of the match after that and were lucky to get a 0-0 draw. Jablonec 1-2 Slavia Prague (D1) Latsuzbaia, Bochorishvili Again we had a league game just 2 days before a European tie, to Jablonec this time and it looked pretty lacklustre. We held on in the first-half but they took the lead in the 64th minute. That seemed to be that but then our Georgians turned the game around. Latsuzbaia equalized in the last minute of the 90, which was surprising enough but Bochorishvili got a stoppage time winner! RB Salzburg 4-2 (4-2) Slavia Prague (CL PL) Bochorishvili (2) I wasn’t confident about going to Austria but did have the advantage of a score draw being enough to send us through. It didn’t start well and they took the lead from Bochorishvili’s counterpart (for they had a hotshot Georgian forward of their own) in the 17th minute. However the real thing hit back for us, equalizing 10 minutes later and giving us the lead before the break. Unfortunately I messed up the half-time talk, going for ‘no pressure’ by accident and we threw it away in the second-half. They equalized right at the start of the second-half, which itself wasn’t enough but they soon took the lead and got a 4th late on. I wasn’t too disappointed with reaching the Europa League group stage and I wasn’t necessarily expecting to beat Red Bull anyway but it was still disappointing. We got Schalke, Sporting Lisbon and Evian which was an interesting and potentially very open group but it would take a lot to be able to compete like we sort of did at the same stage a couple of years back. Slavia Prague 3-0 Ceske Budejovice (D1) Latsuzbaia, Jose Carlos, Campos Ceske Budejovice was our 8th game of the month, and the 13th of a season just one and a half months old. We had the pressure but no real organization up front in the first-half but managed to get our act together after the break. Latsuzbaia gave us the lead in the 59th minute with Jose Carlos and Campos giving us a comfortable win in the last 10 minutes. I was worried that all the European games would slow us down a lot at the start of the season. Those fears seemed to be a bit misplaced as we got off to a great start and while there was definitely a bit of an August blip, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been and it was still a pretty good start to the season, though it's frustrating to see Sparta burst into life after drawing both the first two games. Red Bull may or may not have come back to win even had I not messed up the half-time talk option as they were stronger on paper but it's still a pain to have thrown away a good position at half-time. It will be interesting if we can threaten qualification from the group like we seemed like we'd do last time around but it's going to be a tall order I feel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Looks like a tough Euro Cup group for you. Unlucky against RB Salzburg especially with the messed up team talk. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Solid start mate, KUTGW and good luck for the season ahead! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Looks like a tough Euro Cup group for you. Unlucky against RB Salzburg especially with the messed up team talk. I know, we might not have done it anyway, being away to a side that was definitely stronger on paper (though not vastly so) but we pretty much sealed our fate then and there and when they equalized immediately (even though we were still on course for an away goals win as it stood at that point) I knew full well what would happen. I was hoping that we'd manage to do a bit better in the Europa League given our previous campaign but it just didn't happen. Solid start mate, KUTGW and good luck for the season ahead! Thanks, we're putting up a far stronger defence of our title than I expected. Sept 2021 Trebon 0-3 Slavia Prague (CFC R2) Bochorishvili (3) Like last year, we went to Trebon first in the cup. Bochorishvili really went to town, giving us the lead in the 2nd minute, scoring again within 5 minutes and finishing off a hat-trick late in the half. Fanchone also played a strong supporting role. Hradec Kralove 0-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Vesely Vesely gave us the lead after 20 minutes at Hradec Kralove, and we were easily dominant enough that it was disappointing not getting more. Schalke 1-0 Slavia Prague (EL) We went to Schalke in the first Europa League group game and while it wasn’t entirely one sided it was only going to go one way. They took the lead in the 33rd minutes and I was relieved not to concede more, even though that was only because they had a late goal disallowed. Slovan Liberec 2-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Jose Carlos, Bochorishvili (2) We went to Slovan Liberec just a couple of days later but Jose Carlos gave us the lead in the 17th minute. They equalized in the 33rd minute but Bochorishvili restored it in the 63rd minute. A penalty gave them another equalizer but Bochorishvili gave us the win with 10 minutes left. Bohemians 1905 0-1 (CFC R3) Jose Carlos We struggled to take down Bohemians 1905 in the cup, Bochorishvili summing up a poor performance with a missed penalty in the first-half. We pulled through only with Jose Carlos scoring in the 65th minute. Slavia Prague 2-1 Sigma Olomouc (D1) Jose Carlos Jose Carlos gave us the lead again against Sigma Olomouc in the 28th minute. An own-goal made it 2-0 just 4 minutes later but we were under a lot of pressure in the second-half. They pulled a goal back in the 50th minute and we were a little lucky not to concede an equalizer. Slavia Prague 0-4 Evian (EL) We were unsurprisingly under a lot of pressure against Evian in the Europa League and went behind after 15 minutes. We might have gotten an equalizer but they got another a few minutes from half-time. We were picked off with two more second-half goals which was perhaps a rather harsh scoreline. Oct 2021 Teplice 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Jose Carlos (2), Gryshyn Jose Carlos was our main form player of the moment and gave us the lead in the 14th minute at Teplice, adding another in the 52nd minute. Bochorishvili’s drought continued but only after he had a disallowed goal and Gryshyn sealed it in the 72nd minute. Slavia Prague 1-0 Mlada Boleslav (D1) Jose Carlos We had a bunch of players away when we played our game in hand against Mlada Boleslav and they proved tough to make a breakthrough against but Jose Carlos again delivered in the 72nd minute to keep pace with Sparta ahead of the derby. Slavia Prague 3-2 Sparta Prague (D1) Vesely, Zidek It looked like a tight 2-horse race for the title so the home derby really mattered and after a tight start an own-goal gave us the lead after 15 minutes. Another own-goal equalized it just 5 minutes later but we made a push in the second-half and were rewarded by headers from Vesely and Zidek giving us a 3-1 lead after 67 minutes. They pulled a goal back 12 minutes later and it was a close one but we held on to get a crucial win that took us 2 points ahead of them. Sporting Lisbon 4-0 Slavia Prague (EL) Sporting Lisbon didn’t look that bad on paper when I looked through our European opponents and the game in Portugal was easily the most open of our group games so far. They still took the lead in the 27th minute but we were good value for an equalizer for a while afterwards. Unfortunately they scored three more times in the last half-hour to deliver a big defeat we didn’t deserve. Most 1-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Campos (3) Sparta had won 9 league games in a row before the derby, then dropped points again but we struggled to capitalize at Most. Campos finally scored in the 78th minute, with another a few minutes later and though they pulled one back a few minutes after that there was still time for the Angolan to complete a hat-trick and extend our lead to 4 points. Usti nad Labem 1-2 Slavia Prague (CFC R4) Ildemar, Bochorishvili We went to Usti nad Labem in the first leg of the last 16 of the cup and struggled to get to grips with our inferior opponents for most of it. Ildemar gave us the lead at the start of the second-half only to see them equalize 4 minutes later. Thankfully Bochorishvili’s 11 hour goal drought ended to give us a winner in the 72nd minute but it was a lot closer at the end than I was happy with. Nov/Dec 2021 Slavia Prague 2-0 Vitkovice (D1) Campos, Jurcik We had no trouble against Viktovice, Campos giving us the lead in the 33rd minute and it was a minor disappointment that we only got another from Jurcik with 10 minutes left. Slavia Prague 0-3 Sporting Lisbon (EL) Our Europa League group results hadn’t matched our performances, a 1-0 defeat at Schalke which could easily have been worse followed by decent displays and big defeats and it happened again at home to Sporting Lisbon. We looked like potential winners for a lot of the match, only to have the tide turn later on as they took the lead in the 59th minute and even got two more in the last 10 minutes. Jihlava 0-2 Slavia Prague (D1) Bochorishvili (2) We went to 3rd placed Jihlava in the last league game before the break, and an earlier draw for Sparta took the pressure off a little. Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 17th minute and though we were under a lot of pressure when Campos got sent off, Bochorishvili got another in stoppage time as we had a 6 point led at the half-way point of the season. Slavia Prague 3-1 (5-2) Usti nad Labem (CFC R4) Bochorishvili (3) We easily finished off Usti nad Labem at home to reach the cup quarter-finals. Bochorishvili gave us the lead with a 2nd minute penalty, getting another in the 26th minute. The tie was pretty much beyond them and even though they scored in the second-half, Bochorishvili completed a hat-trick in the 82nd minute, Campos having a 4th disallowed. Slavia Prague 0-2 Schalke (EL) We’d already had our Europa League chips but the bad luck still continued. Again we were decent early on but with Bochorishvili suspended, Jose Carlos and Campos went off injured, leaving us short up front and they took the lead in the 39th minute, just after we lost the second one. Ildemar had to go off as well and they finished us off with another in the 66th minute. Evian 3-1 Slavia Prague (EL) Kral The European campaign ended at Evian and was just a disappointing as the rest of it. They took the lead in the 11th minute and when they scored again 5 minutes later I ceased caring completely, and I think so did the players. Evian scored again before half-time and it would have been at least 5 if it wasn’t for El-Tahir, pretty much the only Slavia player to emerge with any credit. Kral actually gave us our only goal of the group stage in the 79th minute to make it much closer than it deserved. As Sparta recovered in style from drawing their opening two games I felt that it would be a tough task just keeping close to them, but as it happened I was so worried about their tendency to go on long, near-unstoppable winning runs that I forgot that we were capable of the same and after the derby everything suddenly turned in our favour. It was the first of the last 4 league games of the first half of the season which saw us go from a point behind to 6 points ahead, with just 5 points dropped so far (in back to back games in August)! However I feel I can't rest easy. Sparta proved me right in the spring with their tendency to pounce on only a small number of dropped points and we barely stayed ahead in the derby before they fell away as we finished convincingly to make it look deceptively easy in the end, and there's a strong risk that they can recover from their slump to strongly threaten us again. Europe was very disappointing, and it's ironic that the the two games where the score suggested we were vaguely competitive (the first and last group games) were the ones where we weren't compared to the big defeats where we were a lot better on balance of play. We definitely deserved a lot more than the rather depressing record of no points, just a single goal scored (right at the end) and a lot conceded. I had been thinking about whether to stay on after this season. Admittedly it was in the context of not expecting to retain the title and knowing it would be tough to get it back if we lost it but while I would hardly ever leave on the back of a successful year, it's still been on my mind to do so even if we won the title again. I have a feeling that this is as good as it'll get at Slavia, which may seen strange in the context of being champions and looking good as things stand for another but with Sparta as consistently strong as they are it'll be tough to keep it going and the Europa League group stage exposed our limitations on a wider stage, the chairman's policy of selling rather too easily making it near impossible to get much stronger. Thankfully I've been able to keep Bochorishvili (which admitedly has highlighted the inconsistency in the system) but it would have been fantastic to still have Boulabiar and Zaytsev as well. As well as my targetted destination of Argentina, being favourites for the likes of Lille this autumn seem to be a sign that it might soon be time to move on for something far better, which admittedly I already knew, the question being whether it would be at the end of this year or whether I'd stay at least one season more. One other arguement for leaving is that it's a World Cup year so I might be able to get a good national team which might help pass the time until my mystery prefered club comes up (or one of the others I'd be interested in) and enable me to take it then and there rather than waiting unemployed for ages or feeling unwilling to make a mid-season move. Its still very much an open question at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Feb/Mar 2022 Mlada Boleslav 0-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Kral The league resumed at Mlada Boleslav, and while we pushed it didn’t look like we’d make much of a breakthrough. That changed when Kral came on, the 18yr old forward/winger/attacking midfielder giving us a goal in the 63rd minute and looking a bright attacking threat for the rest of the game as we extended our winning run in the league to 12 games. Slavia Prague 3-0 Bohemians Prague (D1) Bochorishvili, Jose Carlos (2) Sparta were back on a winning run so we needed to keep ours going against Bohemians. We took a 2-0 lead from rebounds after penalties, Bochorishvili first, then Jose Carlos. We were never in any trouble afterwards and got a deserved 3rd from Jose Carlos with 10 minutes left. Usti nad Labem 0-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Ildemar Usti nad Labem was a potential banana skin and it was certainly a tough trip but Ildemar just about managed to give us the win (and an 8 point lead) in the 78th minute. Slavia Prague 0-1 Banik Ostrava (D1) Jose Carlos was sent off for handball after just 10 minutes against Banik Ostrava, but despite they we still looked strong enough that we might have got a win. Unfortunately we couldn’t quite do it and were punished by a 77th minute goal, allowing Sparta to close to 5 points. Brno 1-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Milanov We were in danger of losing more ground at a strong Brno side and while we had some chances we were firmly on the back foot. Milanov actually gave us the lead in the 58th minute. It would have been a very lucky win indeed had we held on to it but while Vyskocil (El Tahir being on international duty) was doing a fantastic job keeping them out, he couldn’t do so forever and they equalized with 10 minutes left, which was admittedly the least they deserved. Thankfully Sparta lost (having led for a while) at Usti nad Labem so we still managed to gain an extra point over them. Apr 2022 Bochorishvili (2), Vesely, Campos Jablonec were not the powerhouse they once were and we had no trouble. Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 6th minute and scored again 11 minutes later, Vesely making it 3-0 a few minutes from half-time. Bochorishvili went off injured in first-half stoppage time but there was still time for Campos to give us a 4th before the whistle blew and a Kral shot was deflected in for an own-goal to seal a 5-0 win in the 69th minute. Ceske Budejovice 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Ogar, Kral, Campos We went to bottom club Ceske Budejovice and had a nice, easy ride. Despite a flurry of early chances it was actually an Ogar penalty that gave us the lead in the 28th minute. Kral gave us another just before half-time and Campos sealed it with 6 minutes left. Brilliantly Sparta lost at Brno to give us a 9 point lead with 8 games left. For the first time all season I felt the pressure ease off a bit. Slavia Prague 1-1 Slovan Liberec (CFC QF) Campos Slovan Liberec were potentially tricky cup quarter-final opponents but Campos gave us the lead after 15 minutes of the home leg. We seemed firmly on top of things for the most part but couldn’t get another goal and after they equalized, we were kicking ourselves as we really should have had a comfortable lead in the tie at this point. Sigma Olomouc 0-2 Slavia Prague (D1) Kral (2) We went to Sigma back in the league and saw them off thanks to Kral. He gave us the lead in the 32nd minute and finished it off 10 minutes into the second-half. It looked like our league lead would be extended even further but Sparta got a late winner at Ceske Budejovice. It probably wouldn’t matter too much especially as 5 of the remaining 7 league games were at home, though not the derby. Slovan Liberec 1-2 (2-3) Slavia Prague (CFC QF) Kral, Campos We went to Liberec for the away leg, and with away goals counting against us we needed to push. We didn’t get anywhere for a while but Kral finally gave us the goal we needed in the 59th minute, then setting up Campos for another and while they pulled one back in the 76th minute they needed two more so I wasn’t worried. Slavia Prague 2-1 Teplice (D1) Kral, Campos Kral was very much on form and gave us the lead in the 9th minute against Teplice. Unfortunately the defence wasn’t so hot and they equalized in the 34th minute but we kept pushing and were rewarded with a bit of ‘Fergie time’, getting 5 minutes in which Campos finally gave us the win in the 3rd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 May 2022 Slavia Prague 3-0 Hradec Kralove (D1) Bochorishvili (2), Zidek Sparta were still hanging in there, as much as they were able to anyway, as we opened what would be a very busy month (8 games, 9 if we made the cup final) against Hradec Kralove. Bochorishvili had been kept out of the team for a little bit after his injury thanks to the Campos and Kral being on form, which at least kept him fresh as he came back in for Campos (who was unfit after a minor injury of his own) and gave us the lead after 10 minutes. Zidek headed another in the 35th minute and Bochorishvili scored again in the 62nd minute to give us a good win that took us one step closer to the title, 9 points clear with 5 games to go. Slavia Prague 2-1 Sparta Prague (CFC SF) Bochorishvili, Kral We had 3 games against Sparta in the next 4 matches starting at home in the first leg of the cup semi, which was given extra importance as I’d pretty much decided to leave and hoped to go out with a double. Bochorishvili gave us the lead in the 12th minute but Kalinin had another disallowed and they started to push hard afterwards. Kral managed to give us another in the 52nd minute but the referee really hated Kalinin, giving him a straight red card and they were able to pull a goal back. We just about managed to hold on the aggregate lead but still had a lot to do in the second-leg. Slavia Prague 0-1 Slovan Liberec (D1) As our last cup opponents, Sloven Liberec were another side we’d seen a lot of recently and past experience taught me that we wouldn’t try too hard ahead of the midweek cup match. I was right though early injuries to Bochorishvili (whose season was unfortunately over) and Milanov didn’t help. We woke up after they took the lead in the 65th minute and while we should have at least equalized we couldn’t. Sparta closed to 6 points and with the away derby to come they weren’t quite out of it yet. Sparta Prague 0-4 (1-6) Slavia Prague (CFC SF) Jurcik, Campos (2), Ogar International call-ups really didn’t help in the slightest when we had the second leg against Sparta, nor did an early injury for Fanchone as they only needed a single goal for a potential away goals win. That changed drastically as despite predictably being under a lot of pressure, Jurcik’s header gave us the lead against the run of play after 35 minutes, followed by Campos catching them on the break just before half-time for an unlikely 2-0 lead. Ogar’s penalty extended the lead even further early in the second-half and you almost felt sorry for them as they just couldn’t catch a break, having a goal disallowed after an hour shortly followed by a second Campos goal as we cruised into the final with a 6-1 aggregate win! Assuming we didn’t blow the league, only Dukla stood between us and the double. Sparta Prague 3-1 Slavia Prague (D1) Campos We went into the league derby hoping to hold on like we did last year and preserve the 6 point lead with just 3 games left afterwards. Unfortunately while it was a more open game than previous away derbies we still fell behind after 5 minutes and conceded again in the 22nd minute. We weren’t finished yet as Campos pulled a goal back 5 minutes later and we looked good as we chased an equalizer but they struck in the 72nd minute to close to 3 points. Slavia Prague 5-1 Most (D1) Campos (3), Jurcik, Kral I was hoping Sparta would slip up at Liberec as we played Most. Sparta took the lead then lost it as Campos scored for us in the 10th minute but it wouldn’t take much for things to change drastically. Sure enough Sparta went on to win but we pushed on ourselves as well. Campos eventually got another in the 62nd minute, quickly followed by Jurcik and Kral (back from international duty) made it 4-0 in the 74th minute. They pulled a goal back but Campos completed a hat-trick and a 5-1 win in the 84th minute. A great job well done but we couldn’t relax yet. Vitkovice 0-3 Slavia Prague (D1) Jurcik, Campos (2) A crucial week started at Vitkovice, just a couple of days before the cup final but couldn’t afford to let up. Sparta were on the way for yet another win so I was relieved when Jurcik finally put us ahead in the 52nd minute. Campos made it safe with two more, the second right at the end. Slavia Prague 2-0 Dukla Prague (CFC Final) Campos Dukla were 7th in the Second Division but we were pretty worn out so the cup was far from guaranteed, even with a few changes made. It wasn’t a dominant win by any means but we got the job done thanks to Campos. He gave us the lead in the 38th minute and while they were only a minor threat I was relieved when he sealed it with 5 minutes left. Slavia Prague 7-0 Jihava (D1) J.Balaz (2), Vesely, Milanov, Campos (2), Ogar We had to play 3rd placed Jihlava on the final day but a draw would be enough regardless of Sparta’s result. It also helped that we played the Monday after the mid-week cup final so we were pretty fresh. Kalinin’s suspension and Guba’s injury from the cup final meant Jan Balaz got his the chance to play for just the 2nd time in as many years and it was he of all people who gave us the lead after 5 minutes. I was worried this match would be a lot tougher but we were firmly on top and Vesely extended the lead in the 17th minute. Milanov got a 3rd before the break and I was in no doubt now that we’d be champions, especially as Sparta weren’t even winning against Most (and would go on to lose) which would give us the title regardless of how we did. Balaz even got another with a penalty after 50 minutes. Campos got a 5th in the 68th minute and scored another 15 minutes later and there was still time for Ogar, one of my first Slavia signings, to bring my 6 year reign to a close with the 7th and final goal. It was a match that would live long in the memory and a great way to go out, so good in fact that I almost didn’t want to but I knew in my head it was the right thing to do, bow out with a cup double, including a league title secured in style and the applause of the Eden faithful ringing in my ears. After our unsuccessful struggles to get another title the first time I played these seasons I really wasn’t expecting to match last season, let alone do even better. In a way we didn’t, with few less goals scored and a bunch more conceded, and there were a handful of very close calls but in terms of results we were truly exceptional almost all the way through, though in the end we had only 2 points more than last year. There wasn’t much drama this time around, no player sales, no glut of injuries and our league lead remained pretty steady, as opposed to last season when Sparta suddenly got very close in a short space of time before falling away again. They did chase us down near the end with another strong run of 7 wins in a row (including the derby, which thankfully didn’t matter in the end) before falling at the final hurdle, though we had it in the bag anyway on that last day. I couldn’t have left on a better note, but it made for a pretty reluctant and emotional goodbye. Star Player: This looked set to go for Bochorishvili but his autumn drought and spring injuries allowed Campos to take centre-stage. He was an 'emergency' sale in the wake of Zaytsev's sale to Dortmund almost a year and a half ago and has played an important part in both title run-ins, especially this time. We probably wouldn't have done it without him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 I think it is time for my Prague stint to come to an end. When I got the offer it took a surprising amount of time to think over before I accepted but it’s definitely worked out fine. I took over after a second relegation in a few years, quickly took them back up (which was admittedly expected) and proved competitive in the First Division from the start. In the original version of the save we won the title (and the double) in only our second season up but while we completed a hat-trick of cup victories we struggled to get another league win before I went off to Juventus. This time things proved a lot more frustrating for a while and it looked like a single cup would be all I’d get but suddenly we burst into life and managed to get that title after all, then succeeded where I failed originally and convincingly defended it. Another point on the career I’d stay longer, especially with the chance of sealing a hat-trick of titles but I’m still in the phase of making my way to the top so I feel it’s definitely time to move on to something much bigger, especially given the sort of clubs I’ve been linked with over the past few years. There’s also the fact that we’re unlikely to get close to matching this season and with Sparta a permanently tough rival I don’t see us keeping it up for too much longer anyway. For once I do have a solid career plan, with Argentina calling strongly out to me for a couple of years, though I have to wait a bit for one of the bigger clubs to come up it might be tough resisting tempting offers from elsewhere. Early this season I actually got a direct approach from Velez offering 17M transfer budget and a wage budget of 325-350kpw with plenty of surplus, which was very tempting indeed but it wasn’t quite time yet to leave and hopefully I can end up with something similar. If I don’t get something almost right away I might be looking at seeing what I could get internationally after the forthcoming World Cup as well. I even have a sort of plan for after that, as then I’ll hopefully be going to one of the European giants, and there are two clubs I’d especially be interested in (it’s not hard to figure out which two) once I feel I’ve had enough success (hopefully) in South America, but that’s a while off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Can't say no to this... Chapter 3b: V for Velez (Velez Sarsfield) I decided against international management in the end as it would only be a short-term way of passing the time and would mostly get in the way of club management. I had pretty much settled for going to Argentina but there were some very good opportunities around if I hadn’t, including a direct offer from Atletico Madrid, so it’s fair to say that my stock is pretty high now. While I probably couldn’t get the top clubs I could definitely have got a pretty good side in the big leagues had I wanted to. Velez was a move that had been on the cards for a while. They had made an approach early last season which was a bit too soon but otherwise looked very good indeed. River Plate had been my original preferred choice but an improvement in their fortunes made that less likely, however Velez continued to struggle they seemed the most likely option all autumn. I was able to declare my interest in September as Diego Simeone’s position looked shaky but despite a reasonably positive response it took until the end of November for the position to become available, and given how long the game processes when you’re unemployed I very nearly missed out altogether, getting the usually unresponsive ‘browse’ button to work, then seeing the job had been available and loading up the oldest of the 3 rolling autosave just about took me back far enough to apply. There was a lot to be excited about. I had plenty of budget to work with for a start (with plenty more opportunity to, along with a few genuine stars in the squad, some potentially good prospects around (though youth recruitment was only ‘well established’ not ‘extensive’ like a few other clubs) even of a lot of them were away on loan. We could only have 4 foreigners in a matchday squad but unlike in most nations, the wealth of potential talent available in the country meant it wouldn’t be too much of a problem and I could still have a few from the rest of South America, which meant potentially being able to build a very strong side indeed. The stadium, named after Jose Amalfitani (not a player but the chairman for a few years in the mid 20’s and again from 1941-69) holds almost 50,000 with half of those seated. The transfer windows were a bit annoying, lasting less than a month in pre-season, with the last week being for free transfers only, and while it was a month and a half mid-season (ending in early February) there was a limit of just 4 signings. I’m definitely having an Obelix moment here. I arrived with just one game remaining of the opening stage, a 1-0 win over Lanus taking us from 9th to a finish of 6th, which wasn’t too bad a way to start. I also wasted no time in trying to get my 4 January signings in, and even made a deal for a very promising young forward that would go through in June (as he was on a season-long loan elsewhere). We drained pretty much all the money in the bank so couldn’t have afforded any more signings anyway but all of them considerably improved us either immediately or in the longer term in their respective positions so were definitely worth it, especially as we would be in the Libertadores this year and I hoped to have a strong ‘rangefinding’ season on both fronts. Unfortunately I couldn’t compete with major European sides for players and already had what would have easily been the best signing of the lot taken by Marseille late on but hopefully the far younger alternative will prove himself. Signings (3.4M from Amiens) (375k from Universidad de Chile) (2.9M from At. Mineiro, and yes that is the very same guy I bought for Juventus) (6M from Rosario Central) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Good luck at Velez mate! You should do well as they always produce good young players Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Looks like a good move, I'm interested to see how the Argentinian seasons unfold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Good luck at Velez mate! You should do well as they always produce good young players Looks like a good move, I'm interested to see how the Argentinian seasons unfold. Thanks guys. Not played much FM recently and only done a handful of matches in Argentina so far but it's been a reasonably promising start. I already have some players with pretty good potential around and hope a couple of genuine stars emerge before too long as well as there being plenty of young talent I can otherwise bring in to help build a very good side indeed. Having very rarely stepped outside of Europe I wanted to be sure I had an opportunity to go to Latin America (with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay loaded) and try something a little different and get some experience if how things are done over there, which is why I specifically targetted Argentina now instead of taking a good European club. I know quite a bit about it already in terms of how it works with the opening closing stages and there being champions for each, average points for relegation, no domestic cup (not in this version anyway though there is one now), multiple continental competitions played in different parts of the year (with most nations having their Libertadores teams also play in the Sudamericana later in the year) and stuff like that but it should still be interesting actually seeing it in practice. Hopefully I can get a lot more done soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 Feb 2023 Caracas 0-2 Velez Sarsfield (Lib Prelim) Romero (2) The year started with what was expected to be a comfortable Libertadores Preliminary tie against Caracas and easily dominated from the start in Venezuela. Romero gave us the lead in the 29th minute. A red card for right-back Favre just before half-time held us back a little but Romero deservedly scored another with a couple of minutes left. Velez Sarsfield 2-0 Estuduantes (APD) Romero (2) The league closing stage started with big test against Estudiantes. We were on the back foot in the first-half but Romero scored to sneak us ahead just before the break. We had an easier time in the second-half and despite having an early goal disallowed Romero scored again to seal a promising win. Velez Sarsfield 2-0 (4-0) Caracas (Lib Prelim) Romero, Bella Romero’s goalscoring form continued in the home leg against Caracas, soon followed by veteran winger Bella. We seemed to have a problem with right-backs getting sent off in the Libertadores with Acosta getting his marching orders but we were comfortably though regardless. We were in the bottom set of seeds but somehow got a very good draw, getting the Colombians of Deportivo Cali and Once Caldas along with the Bolivian side Jorge Wilsterman, avoiding any Brazilian or other Argentina sides along with the stronger teams from other nations. The draw seemed to be amusingly unbalanced with one group featuring 3 Peruvians and Paraguayan side Guarani (who admittedly had a bit of quality) while another had Santos, Boca Juniors, Newell’s Old Boys and Libertad (one of bigger ‘best of the rest’ clubs). Tigre 2-1 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Romero We struggled at Tigre, going behind in the 17th minute, then Gamarra got sent off just 4 minutes after coming on. As long as it was just one goal we had hope and Romero (who else?) equalized in the 53rd minute but we couldn’t quite hold on and they got an admittedly deserved winner with 5 minutes left. Velez Sarsfield 2-0 Belgrano (APD) Catê, Bessone Catê scored his first goal for the club after 25 minutes against Belgrano, Romero’s strike partner Bessone finally getting his own before the break. We were comfortably dominant enough that we really should have had a 3rd. Olimpo 0-1 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Romero We went to Olimpo, one of the weakest teams in the league, and failed to really convinced. Romero yet again delivered, scoring ironically just as he was about to be taken off (which gives him a little rest I suppose) a few minutes before-half time, which probably explained our failure to get another and we needed a good defensive performance to hold on to the win. It did take us top on goal difference from San Martin after 4 games. Mar 2023 Velez Sarsfield 5-0 Deportivo Cali (Lib) Bessone, Perez, Galarza (2), Bella Deportivo Cali were our first Libertadores group stage opponents and we crushed them with ease. Bessone gave us the lead in the 4th minute followed by defenders Perez and Galarza making it 3-0 after just 30 minutes. Bella had a couple of assists already this match and got the 4th before the break while Galarza’s second headed goal in the 65th minute finished off a great 5-0 win and showed they we weren’t necessarily reliant on Romero for goals. Velez Sarsfield 3-0 San Lorenzo (APD) Romero, Bessone, Catê San Lorenzo had started the season poorly and things didn’t get any better for them as Romero gave us the lead in the 33rd minute and they then went a man down. They had a second sending off conceding a penalty which Bessone scored in the 63rd minute. Catê sealed it with a last minute 3rd. Argentinos Jrs 0-1 Velez Sarsfield (APD) M.Acosta A trip to Argentinos looked like it might be tough but late in the first-half we started to take control and sub forward Acosta (not to be confused with the right-back) gave us the lead. We had the best of the chances but they still threatened enough at the other end for a few hairy moments as we failed to get another. Once Caldas 1-1 Velez Sarsfield (Lib) M.Acosta Our easy Cali win gave me high hopes for our trip to their compatriots Once Caldas but we were far messier at both ends and despite having had the best of it anyway, went behind to a 57th minute own-goal. This wouldn’t do at all and Max Acosta equalized after 70 minutes but we had to settle for a draw. Velez Sarsfield 1-1 River Plate (APD) Perez River Plate looked scarily strong and though Perez gave us the lead after 10 minutes they equalized just a few minutes later and after that we very much had Saad in goal to thank for keeping it level, though we also had a few chances on the break. Jorge Wilsterman 1-0 Velez Sarsfield (Lib) We went to Bolivia for the first of a double header against Jorge Wilsterman which was depressingly similar to Colombia. Romero actually had a goal disallowed in the 40th minute but they took the lead after 50 minutes and fell to a shock defeat. Apr 2023 Rosario Central 1-2 Velez Sarsfield (APD Perez, M.Acosta We went to Rosario Central to start a very busy month (with 8 matches to play), though an earlier defeat for San Martin did ease the pressure off slightly for now. History repeated itself from the River game as Perez gave us a 10th minute lead but they were level 5 minutes later and pushing hard. It wasn’t quite as one-sided though and Max Acosta managed to give us a win in the 60th minute, helped by a Rosario red card soon after. We had a points lead again but still with a bunch of teams right behind us. Velez Sarsfield 4-0 Jorge Wilsterman (Lib) Romero (2), Tchana, Perez I took great pleasure in a revenge win against Jorge Wilsterman (wouldn’t it be hilarious if they actually ended up with a player of that name?), Romero making a welcome return to form after a month’s drought in the 3rd minute. He made it 3-0 after half an hour just after Tchana got a second and Perez sealed a 4-0 win by half-time. Velez Sarsfield 0-1 Gimnasia (APD) Gimnasia were bottom but had exploited the loan system to get a good side including a fantastic 18yr old forward from Boca (who I ordered to be scouted on the spot despite probably not likely being able to get him) to gave them the lead in the 8th minute as our usually good defence was severely letting us down. We struggled to regain momentum after that for a very disappointing defeat that let Boca go top. Velez Sarsfield 2-1 Racing (APD) Rios, M.Acosta We needed to bounce back against Racing to stay right up there and thankfully did so. Rios gave us the lead in the 25th minute, followed 8 minute later with a Max Acosta penalty. Left-back Bittolo got sent off in the middle of the second-half but we still held on ok, only conceding in stoppage time when it was too late to worry about an equalizer. Velez Sarsfield 3-0 Once Caldas (Lib) M.Acosta, Romero (2) After beating Jorge Wilsterman in the last Libertadores game, we avenged the Once Caldas draw as well. Max Acosta scored in the 2nd minute and though he had another disallowed in the 10th, Romero immediately got one anyway. Even though we were soon playing against 10 men it took a very long time for a 3rd to come, eventually appearing in the 74th minute from Romero as we finished with a strong kick. Banfield 0-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) We were on the back foot for a lot of the game at Banfield, having not won back to back league games since early March we didn’t look like breaking that now, but we weren’t so far behind that we didn’t have an opportunity to get a winner ourselves and I thought we had when Romero put the ball in the net with 5 minutes left only to be severely deflated when it was disallowed. Deportivo Cali 0-1 Velez Sarsfield (Lib) M.Acosta We went to Cali having qualified from our group and hoping to seal top spot. We could afford a draw but were mindful of our poor away form in the competition so far. As it happened they very rarely threatened and it didn’t matter that we were blunt ourselves up top, a late Max Acosta goal aside. The Paraguayans of Guarani seemed like a comfortable draw in the next round, fixture congestion aside, but it would get much tougher if we got past that. San Martin 3-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) San Martin had been surprise early challengers before predictably falling away but they still found it easy in our current state. We were competitive for most of the first-half but they broke through a few minutes before the break, scored again early in the second-half and had a 3rd disallowed, eventually getting it after Rios went off injured (and would be out for 3 months), rounding off a day to forget. It's generally been a surprisingly good start to life in Argentina, however one of the problems in fitting in two continental competitions back to back in one year (due to a lot of teams playing in both) is that the Libertadores in particular has to be crammed into a far shorter period than the European competitions and that's going to be a pain to deal with when it comes to making a strong title challenge, the gradual slowdown in our form over the past month and half being very clear to see as we've dropped from 1st to 7th, even though it's still a very tight situation points-wise. One aspect of the way seasons are structured into two halves means that it's very rare for a team that isn't totally dominant to be in any way comfortable at the top. It makes for very intense and exciting battles at the top but as I've already found out, it's very stressful when you're trying to keep your nose just out ahead and dropped points tend to be very costly. However on the other side of the coin if we can get a few wins together (sadly unlikely as long as we're in the Libertadores) that in itself could help us climb quite a bit and as long as we don't get much worse I'd be more than satisfied at the potential we showed for a while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 May 2023 Guarani 1-4 Velez Sarsfield (Lib R2) (M.Acosta (3), Romero) The games just kept coming and we went to Paraguay to face Guarani. We were dominant in the first-half but also wasteful and it was a relief when Max Acosta fired us ahead just before half-time. They equalized immediately but we pulled through in the end. Max Acosta put us back ahead with 10 minutes left, completed a hat-trick in stoppage time and there was even time for a 4th from Romero. Godoy Cruz 1-3 Velez Sarsfield (APD) M. Acosta, Bessone, Olivera) We went behind in the first minute at Godoy Cruz but Max Acosta was very much our key goalscorer and equalized after 40 minutes. Romero was suspended (which I was likely to use as a reason to rest him for a little longer) but Bessone stepped up to give us a 50th minute lead. It was hard fought for the rest of the game but veteran defender Olivera gave us a very late 3rd. Velez Sarsfield 2-0 (6-1) Guarani (Lib R2) Perez, Gamarra I decided not to restore the suspended first-teamers (which aside from Romero included leaving the 17yr old left-back Islas, who had just made his first appearance in place of the veteran Bittolo) given how comfortable we were in the Libertadores. We didn’t have to try too hard and second-half goals from defenders Perez and Gamarra sealed easy passage to the quarter-finals. Velez Sarsfield 0-3 Arsenal de Sarandi (APD) We still couldn’t get back to back league wins and crashed badly against Arsenal de Sarandi (a team, along with the Uruguayan Liverpool who I’d love to take over just to tease people). They took the lead in the 33rd minute and soon got another. They had a 3rd disallowed at the start of the second half but quickly scored it anyway as I think our focus was on the Libertadores in midweek, or at least I hope it was. Velez Sarsfield 1-0 Sao Paulo (Lib QF) 500th career match! Gamarra I knew it was tough whoever we got at this stage and so it proved with Sao Paulo. The home leg was the 500th game of the career and Gamarra gave us a deserved lead in the 37th minute but they were a lot tougher in the second-half and though we kept the lead, we still had a lot to do in Brazil. Colon 2-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Before that we went to Colon, who had been going strong and with the Sao Paolo trip ahead I was right not to expect much and they comfortably saw us off with a goal in each half. Sao Paulo 4-0 (4-1) Velez Sarsfield (Lib R2)) I knew a single goal lead would be tough to defend in Sao Paolo as well as knowing it would be very much a rearguard action. They got the tie-equalizer in the 40th minute and got the long-awaited second in the 77th, which caused us to collapse and concede two more before the end. Velez Sarsfield 2-3 Boca Juniors (APD) Romero (2) We weren’t in great shape either physically or mentally to play Boca and even though Romero gave us the lead after 40 minutes they struck twice to have a half-time lead. Things got worse as Catê went off injured in the second-half and they soon got a 3rd. Perez also had to go off reducing us to 9 men but Romero managed to give us another afterwards, which I wasn’t expecting even though it meant little in the end. June 2023 Velez Sarsfield 1-1 Lanus (APD) Galarza I was hoping that with the fixture congestion easing off we could have a decent finish to the season but while we were decent at Lanus, we weren’t much better. It still looked promising when Galarza gave us a 50th minute lead but I had messed up a defensive substitution, intending to take a left-back off for a centre-back but having swapped the positions around first I took off the wrong player and had two defenders out of position for a while (though eventually spotted it and swapped the positions back again after finally taking off the player who should have gone in the first place) which may have helped them equalize though in truth neither side really deserved to win anyway. Newell's Old Boys 0-2 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Romero, Galarza We did a lot better at Newells, Romero giving us the lead in the 15th minute and Galarza giving us an admittedly fortunate 2-0 lead at the break. They put us under a lot of second-half pressure but we held on comfortably. Velez Sarsfield 1-1 Independiente (APD) Romero Independiente was a tough final game but despite facing some scarily good players we very much held our own. Romero gave us the lead in the 53rd minute but though we couldn’t hold on to it, it was still a decent result. Somehow my first half-season in Argentina has been both promising and frustrating in equal measure. The Libertadores fixture congestion was definitely a major handicap, especially with a bunch of young players in the side (it wouldn’t be one of my teams if I didn’t) and as I know full well from experience, coping with the twin demands of strong domestic and continental campaigns is something that takes time to adjust to. We had 22 points out of 30 (which averaged out over the whole closing stage would have left us just 0.2 points off top) before the Libertadores games became weekly, 4 points from the next 6 games and finally 5 from the last 3 (all against reasonably challenging opponents) when we’d been knocked out and had a bit of a chance to rest, which is a very striking illustration of how much it held us back. There isn’t much money around but hopefully enough for a couple more reinforcements, as well as a few players back from loan who give us some much-needed depth in various positions (up front being the only place we had it this year) and a probable lack of continental football will hopefully help us push on, plus getting rid of the wages of a bunch of older players will help financially in the long-term so we’ll see how we progress next season. Star Player: Romero was one of the reasons why I found Velez so tempting, having a few very good players already at the club. He only had 5 goals in the opening stage but shone once I took over as we made a great start under my management. Unfortunately he was the epitome of what fixture congestion was doing to us, suddenly hitting a very dry spell before bursting to life again at the end. Hopefully he can keep up his strong scoring record. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 Pre-Season 2023 This was one of the more hectic pre-season transfer windows I’ve had, even taking into account the fact that I did got the main scouting session out of the way before the reset date to try and take the relatively short window into account. I decided to do it again after the reset date as new players appeared on the radar, and then again as the board reinstated my ability to scout worldwide instead of just South America and Mexico and only a small percentage of players were ‘new’ (as opposed to having already been available during my first window at the start of the year) it still led to a lot of refocusing on new targets and picking players who were no longer wanted to get rid of (and actually get quite a bit of money for) to help pay for new signings. There were a couple of oddities. The first was a young defender who actually rejected a permanent move in favour of going on loan elsewhere, which I’d never seen before, but I very quickly re-bid for him and confirmed a transfer for next year instead, and in fact his contract was cheaper that it would have been the first time since he had fired his agent (who had been a real greedy ******* during our earlier negotiations). There was also a Nigerian playmaker who I thought I hadn’t a hope of signing when Real Madrid came in for him as well but somehow an inflated contract offer got him to sign for us which was great but something I hadn’t quite counted on. We would be in the Sudamericana this year but with Estudiantes as our first and potentially last opponents I didn’t feel like it would get in the way too much which I hoped would leave us a lot fresher in both stages of the season and help us perform a lot more consistently as we hoped to improve comfortably on our latest finish of 7th. We were still a work in progress however and with just a half-season at the club so far there was still a bit of ‘rangefinding’ going on. On paper we definitely looked stronger anyway so hopefully that’ll show on the pitch. Signings The One Who (Almost) Got Away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Some solid signings Are you continuing with this or considering FM15? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 25, 2014 Author Share Posted October 25, 2014 Some solid signings Are you continuing with this or considering FM15? Definitely continuing. After a couple of months of FM14 I knew the game was no longer what I really wanted it to be. There's also a sense that I can only go on for so long so this is meant to be my last big one for as long as I can get it to last. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 Aug/Sept 2023 Rosario Central 3-5 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Galarza (3), Romero (2) The season opened with an epic game at Rosario Central. It started badly as we went behind in the 12th minute but Galarza equalized just couple of minutes later and we were good value to take the lead for the rest of the half. Romero opened his account for the season just 19 seconds into the second-half but that barely lasted and they eventually took the lead in the 63rd minute. Romero scored again to equalize 10 minutes later followed by another from Galarza to restore the lead in the 82nd minute and as they pushed for an equalizer he even completed a hat-trick in the last minute of the regular 90 to finish off a 5-3 win in a fantastic match. Velez Sarsfield 2-0 San Lorenzo (APD) Romero, J.Acosta Things were a bit trickier against San Lorenzo but Romero managed to fire us ahead after 35 minutes, with Javier Acosta making it reasonably safe in the 50th minute. Tigre 2-2 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Bessone, Gomez We had to go to Tigre during the international break which cost us our keeper among a few others and a severely under-par performance followed. They had a goal disallowed after a minute and deservedly took the lead anyway in the 29th minute. Somehow it stayed 1-0 which allowed Bessone to equalize in the 56th minute and though we missed a penalty, we still took a very surprising lead from defender Gomez after 70 minutes. We couldn’t quite hold onto it but it was still more than I expected after a first-half where we looked set for a bad defeat. Estudiantes 4-0 Velez Sarsfield (Sud) We went to Estudiantes in the Sudamericana with even more players absent including the backup keeper, and all the others were ineligible!!!! Since holidaying past the game would have felt wrong I stuck Bessone in goal (as he at least had the physical attributes for the job) and braced myself. They took the lead just a few minutes in and while wastefulness spare for a while (though Bessone had made a couple of bona-fide saves) the inevitable second goal came in the 34th minute. We actually looked like we might score for a while in the second-half and had a penalty claim waved away but they got two more goals for the sort of defeat I was expecting. Hopefully I could use the ‘player withdrawal’ bug to my advantage soon to stop this happening much again though there weren’t any Argentina friendlies scheduled for a long time. What was really annoying was the press comment after the game expressing incredulity that Bessone went in goal. My two goalkeepers were on international duty and no one else was eligible, what on earth else could I do!!!!! Velez Sarsfield 5-0 At. Tucuman (APD) Romero (2), Bessone, Catê (2) Thankfully everyone was back for an easy ride against Atletico Tucuman. Romero got us going in the 8th minute, followed by Bessone who much have been relieved to be at the right end of the pitch again and made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute. Catê made it 3-0 by the break, getting another along with Romero as we cruised to a 5-0 win that took us top on goal difference over Independiente. San Martin 1-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Poor early finishing cost us early on at San Martin and we were caught on the break to go behind in the 35th minute. We struggled to recapture our earlier energy and fell to a disappointing defeat. Velez Sarsfield 1-0 (1-4) Estudiantes (Sud) There was barely any point turning up for the second leg against Estudiantes. Gomez headed in a free-kick in the 40th minute but that was the only moment of any note as the tie had very much been decided already. Velez Sarsfield 5-1 Argentinos Jrs (APD) Quinana, Romero, Bessone, Gomez (2) With no continental distractions we could push on against Argentinos. Quintana and Romero gave us a 2-0 lead just after 10 minutes and while they quickly pulled one back we were easily on top. Bessone eventually gave us a 3rd just before half-time and two late Gomez headers allowed us to hit the 5-goal mark for the 3rd time in just 6 league games. Oct 2023 Estudiantes 1-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Potentially trickier tests awaited this month starting at Estudiantes. We were tough in defence but that was the only real positive as we never looked like doing anything more and it wasn’t quite enough anyway as they eventually got a winner in the 59th minute. Velez Sarsfield 0-1 Banfield (APD) Banfield was our only home game of the month and with our last 0-0 draw coming against the same opponents in April, it looked like the same again. Unfortunately the 49th minute saw a straight red card for Gomez, last month’s player of the month and they took advantage to turn the heat right up and get the only goal of the game just 5 minutes later. Newell's Old Boys 4-0 Velez Sarsfield (APD) The bad times continued at Newell’s, who went 3-0 up in just over half an hour, with Bessone having gone off injured at the start, They got a 4th with 10 minutes left after one of those days where it’s clear from the start that it’s just not going to be your day. Racing 1-3 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Romero, Vallejos, Catê I tweaked the tactics for the trip to Racing but it seemed like one of those ‘resisting is the best we can hope for’ occasions. In the end we couldn’t do that as they took the lead after 65 minutes and that seemed to be that. However we were starting to come out of our shell and Romero’s 75th minute equalizer was pleasant enough, however we really finished strongly in the quest for a winner and Vallejos’ first goal for the club (after a disappointing first couple of months) gave us one with a couple of minutes left, with time for Catê to get a 3rd in stoppage time as well! As frustrating as it's often been in Argentina so far, it's not been boring and it's sort of got to a point when I'm able to assess where we stand. After our strong start and with a much clearer schedule I was hoping we'd be able to have a much smoother season but unfortunately there are a few reasons why we can't yet, especially when things get a bit tough. Tactically I was being rather ambitious (as I like to be) but we're not at the level where we were able to make it work on a consistent basis so I toned back the attacking and creativity and set things to be more rigid and simple before Racing and that seems to have worked very well in what was admittedly the only game since I changed things, though there also will come a point when I'll need to let the leash off again to unleash our full potential. While never very tactical and usually pretty attacking (especially with a flat back 5) FM13 did a lot to teach me about switching to either approach at the appropriate time. There's also the fact that the Argentine league is incredibly open in terms of quality. There are a few really strong sides (which have been Boca, Estudiantes and Independiente for a while now) but a lot of the other teams are also reasonably good to some extent so there aren't that many games that you can feel reasonably comfortable about. We're sort of near the top of the latter group on paper, not at the same level of the best sides and not so much stronger than most of the league that we can expect to win consistently, even if we certainly have our moments. It doesn't help either that Romero is rather Rooney-like in that he goes through phases of either being brilliant or mediocre and while we have plenty of goals in the rest of the team it's still something that can hold us back. Thankfully after a very testing month or so things get relatively easier after Boca, which is the next game, though the games are also a little more packed so we'll see how much that hinders getting a strong run of form up again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 Nov 2023 Velez Sarsfield 0-2 Boca Juniors (APD) Boca was always likely to be tough and a poor defensive performance didn’t help matters. They took the lead after 10 minutes, had another disallowed and got a reasonably deserved second anyway in the 52nd minute. Thankfully the games were about to get easier, at least on paper. Velez Sarsfield 1-1 Arsenal de Sarandi (APD) Vallejos We were terrible almost to a man in the first half against Arsenal and were lucky to only go one goal down. We were much improved in the second-half and eventually equalized from Vallejos with 5 minutes left but we’d had more than enough chances beforehand that we could easily have won. Velez Sarsfield 1-1 Godoy Cruz (APD) Vallejos Things were rather quieter against Godoy Cruz but we still went behind in the 55th minute Vallejos was the only player to get any credit recently and equalized again in the 74th minute but again I had been hoping for a win. Gimnasia (Jujuy) 2-1 Velez Sarsfield (APD) Vallejos We had a bunch of internationals out again when we went to Gimnasia (Jujuy), but both keepers and Perez (who should have been returning from an injury) aside we had a full-strength side and Vallejos gave us a 9th minute lead. Unfortunately the lack of a proper keeper (we were forced to use a 16yr old) potentially cost us along with a failure to kill the game off despite the lions share of the chances. They equalized in the 29th minute and scored a depressing winner with 15 minutes left. Well that was a bit disappointing. It came as a bit of a surprise but then again I know from other people's careers that boards can be trigger-happy over there. The trouble is it often takes a a bit of time for my successful teams to really start to click (Slavia is an excellent example, as is the Juventus side that was tragically lost due to technical issues in the summer) and this is one of those occasions where I knew things would have come good eventually but I didn't get the chance. I am open to returning to clubs, though only when I have a reason to (Ipswich on FM13 say 'hello', though the only other occasion it's happened is on my first FM11 career when I left there to return to Inter, then went back to Ipswich to finish the save off) and I'll certainly be looking to make a return to Argentina, if it's Velez all the better as this is definitely an 'unfinished business' situation, especially as it looked like I might have a career without any 'failures' so it's a pity that this has happened. It would be great to turn it into a success eventually. Interestingly Juventus was available shortly afterwards, and it was a pity I couldn't get it otherwise it would have made a fitting replica of my career path (Velez aside). Another interesting early possibility was Olymoakos who were seriously struggling but a massive loan debt put me off that just as it is for a lot of Brazilian clubs at the moment. I'm currently looking out for interesting opportunities in the bigger leagues (though not the big clubs) but might have to end up with something a little smaller. Doesn't mean there might not be something promising through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Chapter 4: Beautiful Horizons (Atletico Mineiro) Going to Brazil was a bit of a gamble. The board expected Libertadores qualification (top 5 in other words) and the squad was less than convincing, and as usual with a lot of old players. Upgrading wouldn’t be easy as being above the wage budget meant an adjustment which left me with just under 4M for transfers (with far less room to raise more than Argentina) and a government loan of 500kpm (probably to do with financing stadium building/upgrades for the World Cup, which would explain why a lot of clubs have a lot of loan debt) was in effect. There was also a restriction of 3 foreigners in a matchday squad (one less than in Argentina) and the state championships meant that the season would still be a hectic one. However there were a bunch of positives. Looking over the competition revealed that a lot of the teams who finished in a similar position last season weren’t actually much better and there were still a few players of genuine quality. The Minas state championship didn’t seem too bad either, with 12 teams playing each other just once followed by semi’s and a final. I liked the idea of being able to get a bunch of strong wins under my belt to start off with, even though Cruziero would be stiff competition and it would be a massive pain alongside Libertadores football in the future. Being Brazil there was some good youth available (mainly defender/mids but we could use some of those anyway) was lacking and they were ineligibly young to play right now and we had an abundance of attacking midfielders with Coutinho (yes that Coutinho) as a clear and still very strong first-choice at 32 which meant that I could get rid of a few (Oscar included) to raise budgetary space for as many much-needed reinforcements as I could get. The loan mentioned earlier expires at the end of next year and we still had 15M in the bank anyway, perhaps helped by a stadium capacity of almost 70,000! There was also the fact that I had all the time in the world for scouting and transfers, the window lasting until September though only part of that (until April and a month in the summer) could be used to sign players from abroad) and I was hoping that there would be plenty of cheap young talent at smaller clubs to pluck but we’ll see. I’m a little worried I’ve bitten off more than I can chew in South America for the second time in a row but if can get in a few necessary reinforcements and the few stars I’ve got can properly perform than it might end up going rather well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me as best poster again. It's not been a smooth year with two aborted careers and so much of this one having been lost, along with a lot less playing time compared to the previous 2-3 years. It good to know that I've still got it despite all that as I move towards potential retirement (though if I end up still having a bit of time I might be able to do other projects) and hope to keep on going for a while and make this one last big success. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It's well deserved for your perseverance, if nothing else. And your posts per day average is pretty impressive too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 It's well deserved for your perseverance, if nothing else. And your posts per day average is pretty impressive too Thanks, though oddly when I'm going through a spell of not playing I find myself not posting on here much either, even though I have the main FMCU page up a majority of the time. Anyway I was hoping to get through the state championship today but was slowed down by transfer activity but here is a mini-update covering signings... (All but the initial loan signing is mine, only sales from Oscar onwards were on my watch with a few more set to go through when the buying clubs' summer windows open) I think this has been one of my most-balanced windows. In terms of numbers, 7 is a good number of reinforcements without going so far as to cause major gelling issues (hopefully). The players themselves are a mix of those in their prime coming in where we needed them along with fantastic youth that for the most part aren't going to be called upon that regularly that yet but are good enough to manage even if I did. We still have a few weaknesses, including a lack of experience in the 'defensive' midfield position (where I've had to play an admittedly good 17yr old so far), as well as at full back we still have to cope with decent but severely aging players in the meantime. It's a pity the pressure will be on from the start to qualify for the Libertadores as it would have been great to have the time to sit in mid-table/top-half to let things come together. Unfortunately it's been less than convincing against very weak opponents on the pitch so far, though we have picked up a bit of speed in the past few games. I hope it's mostly down to unfamiliarity with the tactic, the gradual nature of the squad strengthening and being able to afford to take it easier against limited opposition (and our star young forward's bad luck in having early goals disallowed) because we definitely need to do a lot better in the national league. Thankfully the state championship is a great opportunity to give things a chance to come together in a relatively unchallenging competitive environment (The first derby against Cruzeiro really didn't go well but otherwise we're still getting the wins even if we're at half-speed) and if we can do that then we've definitely got it in us to have a very strong season indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Feb/Mar 2024 Uberlandia 0-2 Atletico Mineiro (MG) Rabello, Ze Carlos My first game in charge was at Uberlandia in the state championship which wasn’t quite as convincing as I hoped. We had an excellent young Target Man in Ze Carlos who had a 5th minute goal disallowed but we struggled to take control. Chilean winger Rabello put us ahead at last in the 52nd minute with Ze Carlos heading a corner with a few minutes left but it was still a bit underwhelming. Atletico Mineiro 0-0 Ipatinga (MG) I hoped we could build up some momentum against Ipatinga but didn’t get my wish. Ze Carlos had no luck as again he had an early goal disallowed but this time we remained mediocre to drop 2 stupid points. Cruzeiro 3-0 Atletico Mineiro (MG) We really needed to step up at arch-rivals Cruzeiro, even though who would finish top before the playoff rounds was the only thing at stake. New signing Rogerio went off injured after just half an hour and after keeping it even for a while disaster struck at the back and gave them a 66th minute lead. Things just kept on going downhill as an own-goal followed just a few minutes later and a penalty gave them a 3-0 win. Atletico Mineiro 2-0 Tombense (MG) Ze Carlos (2) Ze Carlos made it 3rd time lucky in terms of having early goals allowed against Tombense, and was the only player to really impress, getting another in the last minute. Democrata GV 0-3 Atletico Mineiro (MG) Serginho (2), Coutinho We continued to cruise along in 3rd gear at Democrata GV. Serginho (a good forward sadly only on loan from Leeds) gave us the lead just before half-time. Coutinho got another in the 77th minute and Serginho completed a 3-0 win. Atletico 4-1 Uberaba (MG) Ze Carlos, Serginho (3) Ze Carlos gave us the lead again against Uberaba but it looked like we’d drop the ball as they suddenly pushed, equalized and had another goal disallowed. Coutinho got a red card in the 66th minute and it looked tense for a while but Serginho eventually hit his stride and got a hat-trick in 15 minutes as we eased through in the end. Boa 0-1 Atletico Mineiro (MG) Boa would be joining Cruzeiro and ourselves in the First Division next year and Ze Carlos had his ‘early disallowed goal’ curse strike again. We battered away and got a deserved win from a 67th minute own-goal. Apr/May 2024 Caldense 0-4 Atletico Mineiro (MG) Gilmar, Toninho, Serginho, Ze Carlos Coutinho’s suspension had forced me to use the 16yr old Gilmar who took full advantage to give us the lead in the 10th minute (and becoming the club’s youngest ever scorer) at Caldense, the last league stage match. Toninho and Serginho (who sadly soon went off injured) scored a quick double to make it 3-0 after just 20 minutes and Ze Carlos soon made it 4-0. Unfortunately having come on for the injured Serginho, Betinho went off injured himself in the second-half as we failed to get more, not that we needed to. Thankfully the latter would be out for less than a week with the former back in a few weeks and in time for the start of the First Division. Boa 1-2 Atletico Mineiro (MG SF) Rogerio, Ze Carlos We played Boa in the Semi-final with the away leg first. I felt they might cause a bit of trouble but we still managed to take the lead from Rogerio in the 34th minute. They soon equalized but we got the away win in the 62nd minute and only lack of accuracy denied us more. Atletico Mineiro 3-1 (5-2) Boa (MG SF) Rogerio, Ze Carlos, Tiago We easily finished them off in the home leg, starting off with a 3rd minute Rogerio penalty. Ze Carlos and Tiago also scored to put us 3-0 up after just 22 minutes and we cruised home after that, with Boa merely getting a 73rd minute consolation. Atletico Mineiro 2-1 Cruzeiro (MG Final) Rogerio, Ze Carlos The final against Cruzeiro were the only games that really mattered in the competition as we were superior enough to the rest that we’d comfortably expect to beat almost everyone else and make our way to this point (this being the 52nd state final between the clubs) regardless of who was top of the league stage (though shock defeats aren’t impossible and you do get a few draws at least each year) and I felt we were in a much stronger position now than the last time we played, which was probably just as well given how badly that went. We were at home first and a suspended Edu was the only absence. The first half was disappointingly subdued but the game came to life when Rogerio (who was very close to being taken off) headed us into the lead in the 58th minute. We were still under a lot of pressure to it was a relief to get another from Ze Carlos 11 minutes later but a stoppage time headed pulled one back for them and kept the tie close. Cruzeiro 5-0 (6-2) Atletico Mineiro (MG Final) There was no away goals rule so a single goal defeat in the away leg would mean extra-time. Unfortunately we never got anywhere near that with one of the most inept performances I’ve had to suffer for a while. Cruzeiro dominated from the start with wouldn’t have been so bad if the defence had any sort of solidity at all, but it didn’t. They went ahead after 15 minutes and had two more before the break. Giving the players a kick up the backside didn’t help as we went on to concede two more for a woeful defeat. It was a pretty slow start, all things considered. We did managed to pick up as the state championship continued, at least until that final game which we could safely chalk up to an off-day of quite extreme proportions. That aside I feel a bit more confident than I was before ahead of the main league which is what really matters this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 May/June 2024 Atletico 2-0 Fluminense (ND1) Serginho, N'Diaye The First Division season started against Fluminense which was interesting as they were just the sort of team we should be beating to a Libertadores place. It took just 5 minutes for Serginho to get our season going and give us the lead, and while 1-0 never being enough I was relieved to see N’Diaye head in a free-kick early in the second-half as we opened the season with a confident performance. Palmeiras 0-1 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Serginho Just one game in and we already had a top of the table clash at Palmeiras which I felt would be tough to get a result in but we matched them blow for blow for a while and took the lead from Serginho in the 29th minute. They upped the pressure considerably after that but veteran keeper Renan Ribeiro held firm at the back for a very pleasing win. Atletico Paranaense 0-3 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Serginho, Rogerio Unfortunately Ribeiro suddenly got an injury ahead of a trip to Atletico Paranaense and would be out for 4 months and with the other keeper in the squad leaving in just a couple of weeks I needed to make an emergency signing of another in the meantime. It was surprisingly comfortable in the end as an own-goal gave us the lead in the 7th minute. Serginho gave us a deserved second in the 32nd minute and Rogerio finished off a 3-0 win in the 54th minute. Unfortunately it was at the cost of injuries to both full-backs. Atletico Mineiro 2-2 Portuguesa (ND1) Serginho (2) Portuguesa were one of the other two sides (Cruzeiro of all teams being the other) with a 100% record so far so something had to give and it didn’t help our case that N’Diaye was our latest injury. We hadn’t conceded so far this season but that ended just a few minutes in and though Serginho equalized in the 38th minute, they retook the lead. We were able to keep our unbeaten run going with a Serginho equalizer with 15 minutes left and stayed top on goal difference. Santos 0-1 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Toninho was the latest injury before we went to Santos and Coutinho joined him early on in the game. Our luck remained poor for a while as we had a goal disallowed before Santos started to really push but it thankfully changed with a Rogerio penalty that put us ahead in the 37th minute. They were in the middle of a Libertadores semi-final with Sao Paulo but still had more than enough about them to threaten and thankfully ‘emergency’ keeper Pegorari was on form and kept them out for an admittedly lucky win. Atletico Mineiro 3-2 Corinthians (ND1) Max, Leites, Leandro The game was clearly trolling me as the uncapped Pegorari was given an international call-up by Bulgaria of all teams and left us keeper-less (the two in the youth team were underage) so for the second time in under a year I had to employ an outfielder (defender Baiano) against Corinthians. Serginho went off injured at the start and by then I knew the game was mocking me. Mercifully full-backs Max and Leites gave us a 2-0 lead after 18 minutes but no lead would be safe under these circumstances. Unsurprisingly they scored twice to level it by the break but we took the lead again in the 49th minute from sub defender Leandro. I didn’t expect it to last but we managed to keep the pressure off and were lucky that they had two goals disallowed. What was even more incredible was that I found out after the match that I had accidentally given a 16yr old a debut out of position in defence. Clearly the Corinthians board found it so embarrassing that they sacked their manager. Vitoria 2-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Unfortunately we were in a similar position going to Vitoria, which was uneventful for the most part. Unfortunately we couldn’t repeat the Corinthians win and while we looked like getting a winner for a while they eventually got two goals to win. Atletico Mineiro 3-2 Internacional (ND1) Ze Carlos (2), Rogerio Annoyingly Pegorari was due back the day after we played Internacional , with a few other players missing besides. Ze Carlos gave us some breathing space in the 23rd minute (which was actually his first goal of the national league season) though they equalized in the 39th. He scored again in the 67th minute with Rogerio following up with a 3rd and while they got one back with 5 minutes left, we managed to hold on for the win. I really wasn't expecting it to go this well given our performances in the state championship, especially against Cruzeiro. Somehow despite injuries hitting a bunch of players (thankfully in a revolving door of short-term injuries for the most part rather than any serious ones, with one exception) and of course the three games in a row without a keeper, somehow winning two of those. I'm still looking down the table a bit at the gap to 6th in our Libertadores qualification rather than a title challenge but aside from our strong start without having played the easier teams none of the teams around us finished near the top last year so won't necessarily keep it up. I'm not necessarily expecting to either but we have a it's looking promising so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Heath Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Impressive start, especially considering the goalkeeping situation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Impressive start, especially considering the goalkeeping situation It is indeed very surprising given after just 6 games we had used 4 players in goal, and that defender had actually made the most appearances at the time of that update. I was amazed we won two of those games hich we only did with a combination of managing to get a few ourselves each time and keeping the pressure off as much as possible. Thankfully with a proper settled keeper again we've mostly been able to keep going very strongly so we might be able to make a sustained title challenge after all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Some good young signings there and great start mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Some good young signings there and great start mate Never could resist them July 2024 Boa 0-2 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Serginho, Ze Carlos State-compatriots Boa were having a terrible time in the top flight and we piled on the misery in front of their own fans. Serginho was back from an injury and gave us the lead in the 22nd minute. They went down to 10 men which made it disappointing that we only got one more from Ze Carlos in the 59th minute but it was a decent case of ‘job done’ and we closed to a point of Gremio at the top. Atletico Mineiro 1-0 Cortiba (ND1) Ze Carlos Ze Carlos hadn’t escaped his ‘early goals disallowed’ curse as it happened again against Coritiba. They were the second-worst team in the league and we had a great chance to go 2 points clear at the top so it was a relief to see Ze Carlos eventually give us the win with 15 minutes left. Flamengo 1-2 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Lucas Galdino (2) We got off to a flying start against Flamengo, Lucas Galdino heading us into the lead just a few minutes in, followed by a disallowed Rogerio goal. I knew from that point that if they equalized I’d have been seriously annoyed but despite it getting hectic at both ends they didn’t. Galdino got another goal to make it fairly safe in the 68th minute though they did make it close late on. We did unfortunately lose Ze Carlos for 4 weeks however. Atletico Mineiro 2-1 Cruzeiro (ND1) Betinho, Serginho I was hoping we’d do rather better against Cruzeiro than in our last encounter though it didn’t look good when Ismaily got sent off just 14 minutes into the match. They took the lead in the 38th minute but Betinho equalized just a few minutes later. Serginho actually put us ahead in the 72nd minute and though it was tough we were able to hold on for the win. Aug 2024 Bahia 3-5 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Betinho (3), Lucas Galdino Things would get busier with 7 games this month, starting at Bahia. Betinho gave us the lead in the 10th minute and while they equalized before the break he fired us again in the 53rd minute. They pushed hard and quickly equalized again but a Betinho shot was deflected in for 3-2. They levelled it a 3rd time but Betinho wasn’t finished yet, completing his hat-trick in the 82nd minute and Lucas Galdino scored a 5th to make sure they wouldn’t peg us back a final time. Atletico Mineiro 0-2 Gremio (ND1) Gremio was a top of the table clash and a chance to extent our 4 point lead even further. Unfortunately we were pretty useless as they took the lead in the 27th minute, getting another just before the hour mark as we put up no fight whatsoever and found lead cut to a single point. It was our first defeat with an actual keeper and it was probably no coincidence that it came in our first midweek league game. Criciuma 2-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) We failed miserably to bounce back at Criciuma, started brightly enough but failing to take our chances and falling behind to a 32nd minute penalty. They scored another before half-time and we never looked like coming back. Atletico Mineiro 3-0 Sport Recife (ND1) Betinho, Serginho, Rogerio We welcomed Rogerio back from injury against Sport Recife and Ze Carlos being almost back from his caused Betinho and Serginho to buck up and they each scored to give us a 2-0 lead after 12 minutes. Rogerio scored one of his own later in the second-half as it was easy as you please. That took us above Gremio again on goal difference, 5 points ahead of Botafogo in 3rd. Guarani 0-2 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Betinho, N'Diaye We surprisingly struggled for most of the first-half at second-bottom Guarani but changing the midfield (Marcelo was having a bad day and Coutinho was tired) paid off and Betinho gave us a 56th minute lead. We were never comfortable but N’Diaye did give us an admittedly undeserved 2-0 winning margin with 5 minutes left. Sao Paulo 1-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Sao Paulo had won the league for the last 4 years running so I was rather nervous about facing them away, especially as they’d be in a position to pounce on the top spots if they won. We had a few chances but they caught us on the break in the 28th minute, making all the difference in a mostly underwhelming game. Atletico Mineiro 3-0 Botafogo (ND1) Betinho (2), Coutinho We’d slip behind Botafogo if we lost to them with other clubs like Sao Paulo ready to pounce if our form kept slipping so I was glad to see Betinho give us the lead in the 32nd minute, soon followed by Coutinho for 2-0. We missed a penalty before the break but still got a 3rd from Betinho in the 84th minute. Sept 2024 Fluminense 4-1 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Ze Carlos We had a terrible time at Fluminense, who easily hit us for 3 goals in the first-half, then got a 4th with N’Diaye getting sent off for good measure. Ze Carlos got a goal with 15 minutes left but it was a bad display all-round otherwise. Atletico Mineiro 0-0 Palmeiras (ND1) We had numerous players missing for various reasons to play Palmeiras, though thankfully an admittedly very unfit Renan Ribeiro was available to play in goal. We had a good spell in the second-half but otherwise had to settle for 0-0, which felt like a missed opportunity. Atletico Mineiro 2-1 Atletico Paranaense (ND1) Rogerio (2) A Rogerio penalty gave us the lead after 40 minutes against Atletico Paranaense. They headed in a corner to equalize (one of those you sense coming) in the 63rd minute, then were awarded a penalty but Ribeiro (fit again and officially restored as No.1) saved and Rogerio struck again in the 84th minute as we just about edged the win. Portuguesa 1-2 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Rogerio We got rather lucky at Portuguesa, being poor up front in the first-half before Rogerio showed the front two how it was done and put us ahead at the end of the half. They equalized at the start of the second-half but we won in rather bizarre fashion. A Rogerio penalty in the 71st minute bounced off the goalframe and went in off the keeper, and even then we found it hard to hold on so it wasn’t one of our more inspiring wins. Atletico Mineiro 1-2 Santos (ND1) Max The first-half against Santos was a stalemate but they took control with two early second-half goals. We ended strongly but couldn’t get more than a late goal from Max. Corinthians 1-3 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Ze Carlos (2), Toninho I wasn’t expecting much from a trip to Corinthians but a good day started by finding out they had a wing-back called John Lennon (who is old enough to actually be a real player) and got better when Ze Carlos gave us a 7th minute lead. Toninho scored another in the 33rd minute and they went down to 10 men before half-time. They got a goal back in the 66th minute which made me nervous but Ze Carlos settled it with a few minutes left. Unfortunately we lost Rogerio for a couple of months after the match and Serginho for a month himself before the next one. The past few months have been 'a little from column A, a little from column B'. We very much kept up our winning ways for a while but after losing that crucial Gremio match we dropped off a bit. We haven't been too bad but it's allowed Gremio to storm ahead and a few other teams to catch up and put a potential top 3 finish under serious pressure. Gremio could well drop off (having been 11th for the past two seasons, but occasonally a surprise leader does go on to win) especially with the Sudamericana taking up some of their time but regardless of how they do we need to overcome our latest key injuries (though everyone has been out for a while this year and it's often been fine) or we'll probably be 4th at best, which would be ok but would probably feel a little disappointing given how things have gone so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Very bizarre goalkeeping crisis. I don't think I've ever read a situation which has required an outfield to start! Usually, worst case scenario is having to play a 'grey'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Very bizarre goalkeeping crisis. I don't think I've ever read a situation which has required an outfield to start! Usually, worst case scenario is having to play a 'grey'. Well that's it was actually just months ago in-game when I had a similar (but less severe) problem, and I didn't have greys then either for some reason. My Velez keeper had become Argentine first-choice that year and was on international duty. He had a young reserve that did play the first game he was away for but was then called up himself and none either of the youth keepers were registered for the Libertadores (I like that under-21's don't have to be registered for European competition, and while they have to be homegrown on future versions they don't on this). What was really bizarre this time was how everything came together. My keeper being out injured for a few months was unusual (which is why although I usually have one, I don't always make a proper backup a priority) but not unheard of. The other keeper being sold was fortunate in the sense that he was still 2 weeks away from it going through but that he wouldn't be around to cover the whole period and the youth teamers couldn't play as they were under 16 so you can imagine my reaction when I found out that the guy I'd just brought in instead had been called up by Bulgaria! Presumably he had played there long enough to get citizenship beforehand but it really came out of left field as he was otherwise Brazilian and had no caps at any level beforehand. I'm not a believer in the game cheating or anything like that but that was the closest I've ever gotten to feeling like the game was trolling me. I was going to finish the season today but my new laptop (a longer-term replacement for the one that failed in August than the 5-yr old one I was using in the meantime) arrived, and after waiting hours for FM to download (which also uses up a day's worth of download limit) I found out that it won't run, something about there being a missing file somewhere. I might have to remove and re-download it and see if that works but I also want to see if EU3 will work first and determine if it's a problem with all the games (admittedly Civ V is the only other) I'm trying to put on from steam. It's not critical as I can still play on the other laptop (The SSD pretty much making up for only having about 2/3 the processing speed, especially as the slowdown effect over many seasons is surprisingly minimal) just fine and if EU3 doesn't work either I won't have to worry about using steam on multiple laptops (which obviously I can't do at the same time), even if it means I can't play it at all (min spec of 2.4Ghz (which is actually a lot for a game from 2009ish especially compared to FM's requirements) compared to actual laptop spec of just 2Ghz). Civ is sort of in the middle as it does work fine (though with low graphics settings) on the older one but would be a lot better on a newer machine. The latter two are only occasional distractions from FM anyway, especially as I've easily done what I wanted to do with multiple Byzantium games (4 in total) on EU3 in the first place, plus various others, and I've had a decent run of Civ recently as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 OK this is strange. I managed to sort out the issue with the missing file and EU3 (which had the same problem) now seems to work but FM11 still won't. My techy best friend reckons that FM is a poorly programmed game (which I think is an opinion he's voiced before) in terms of not having the capacity to search for and work with updated DirectX versions, or something like that. Actually there are reasons why writing and doing general stuff on a different machine than one that's only got FM to deal with might work out but we'll see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Will be a shame if you can't continue this delta. Maybe it's a sign to get FM15? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Will be a shame if you can't continue this delta. Maybe it's a sign to get FM15? Not going to happen I can still play FM11 just fine on the other laptop. There are also a few issues I have with the amount of pressure you're under from the board from FM14 onwards. Unless you're that confident having an emergency meeting is essentially the end of the road a lot quicker than it used to come, plus I've already seen on here a few ridiculous sackings from FM15 relating to squad unhappiness (which would work a lot better if players weren't often so unreasonable) and stuff and I just feel it wouldn't be much fun at all. Plus I liked the simple way of applying a lot better than the far more complicated job interview system, among other things that I feel have sacrificed simplicity and ease of play for frustrating realism. While I admit the RPG aspect is intriguing there has been very little in the past few years (DoF and add/remove leagues perhaps) of any great interest to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Oct 2024 Atletico Mineiro 0-0 Vitoria (ND1) I was worried that Rogerio’s injury would be a big loss but we at least managed to look strong on the attack against Vitoria. Unfortunately we just couldn’t find a way through and a couple of suspension-triggering yellow cards didn’t help our cause either. Internacional 0-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) It looked like a similar story at Internacional, except we were also under a great deal of pressure at the other end as well in the second-half and both sides were probably relieved at what for me is probably a once in a blue moon occurrence of 2 0-0 draws in a row. Atletico Mineiro 2-0 Boa (ND1) Toninho, Lucas Galdino International call-ups depleted the squad even further to play Boa but defeat would give them a points-per-game ratio of exactly 1-in-4 so even though it was extremely uninspiring we still got the expected win comfortably enough. It was the defenders who delivered with a Toninho penalty after 12 minutes and Lucas Galdino with 15 minutes left. Cortiba 0-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Ze Carlos was one of the next two suspensions to go to Coritiba so it was no surprise to draw a blank for the 3rd time in 4 games. It wasn’t quite that simple as the Uruguayan last-choice forward Cabrera had a goal disallowed in the 35th minute and so did they in stoppage time, much to my relief. Atletico Mineiro 3-0 Flamengo (ND1) Ze Carlos (3) Ze Carlos was back in the team and wasted no time giving us a 1st minute lead against Flamengo, getting another in the 32nd minute. He missed penalty before half-time but still completed a hat-trick early in the second-half. Atletico Mineiro 1-1 Bahia (ND1) Marcelo We were firmly on top against Bahia but were very unlucky when it came to scoring. Betinho had an 18th minute goal disallowed but Marcelo finally gave us the lead just before half-time. It was just the sort of game where wastefulness costs point and unfortunately sure enough they eventually hit us with an equalizer. Nov/Dec 2024 Gremio 3-0 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) We had a tough couple of trips starting at Gremio, not helped by a bunch of defensive suspensions. They took the lead in the 10th minute and though Betinho had a goal disallowed for the second game running but it didn’t seem to matter this time as they got two more goals before the break. In the second-half, Leites got sent off in the 63rd minute, Coutinho got injured and we ended the game with 8 men as Vinicius also got his marching orders at the end. Not a good day really. Cruzeiro 2-2 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Lucas Galdino, Betinho Our past away derbies had really not gone well but this time Lucas Galdino gave us the lead with a 27th minute header. They quickly went 2-1 up but we pushed hard in the second-half and Betinho got a deserved equalizer with 10 minutes left. Atletico Mineiro 2-0 Criciuma (ND1) Ze Carlos (2) 21yr old Ze Carlos had looked very promising all year long and with Betinho going off injured, he proved to be the difference again against Criciuma, getting both goals late in the first-half. Sport Recife 2-1 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Serginho Goalkeeping trouble struck again at Sport Recife as along with the suddenly-Bulgarian Pegorari, thrice-capped 34yr old Renan Ribeiro was called up for some reason, and the two youth keepers were still under-16 so Baiano had to pull emergency keeper duty again. They took the lead in the 13th minute but Serginho equalized at the start of the second-half and we looked good for a winner but they cruelly struck, heading on a stoppage time corner. Atletico Mineiro 1-1 Sao Paulo (ND1) Having the keepers back didn’t seem to make a difference against Sao Paulo who took the lead after 20 minutes. They went down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes and we looked unable to take advantage but a stoppage time corner was knocked in for an own-goal and a point. Botafogo 1-1 Atletico Mineiro (ND1) Serginho We went to Botafogo, who had the games in hand to challenge us for 3rd and hoped to settle that question then and there when Serginho gave us the lead in the 39th minute. Unfortunately they equalized in stoppage time but we still had the upper hand. Atletico Mineiro 3-0 Guarani (ND1) Rogerio, Ze Carlos We had relegated Guarani last up, which was Serginho’s last game of his loan but he was denied the chance to go out with a goal after one was disallowed. Rogerio eventually gave us the lead in the 37th minute, with an own-goal and one from Ze Carlos early in the second-half giving us a strong win to finish the season off. It’s been a pretty good first year in Brazil all things considered. There was a lot that needed to be done with an aging squad that needed plenty of improvement and while we muddled through the state championship it proved to be good warm-up as we were able to really click early on in the league. We were unable to keep it up as the games stacked up but still managed to be steady enough to hold on to a comfortable 3rd place, which is still a very good finish all things considered. Next year might be a bit more of a challenge. We’ll be a bit more settled but there are still positions we need fresh blood in (full-back especially) and little money to do it with, and we’ll also have a much busy schedule with the Libertadores. It was a shock preliminary round defeat this year that saw for my predecessor but at least the earlier stages will be alongside the state championship, which aside from the playoffs shouldn’t cause us too much trouble, while it only clashes with the early stages of the national league, though there might still be residual fatigue. Thankfully Brazil is pretty much the only South American nation with the sense to have different teams qualifying for the different continental competitions so we don’t have to worry about more congestion later on. It’ll be interesting to see how we do all things considered. Star Player: When playing a system with just one winger, having someone of genuine quality in that position is very important. There was Yakovenko at Chornomorets, Patras/Godwin at Slavia, sadly no one at Velez and when doing my transfer activity at the start of the year it took just one look ad Rogerio to know that he was the man I wanted as my wide man here. It proved to be a wise move as he won the Brazilian Midfielder of the Year award this season and it was a pity he was out for a couple of months mid-way through as he probably would have been worth a few more wins that with hindsight would have taken us very close to the title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 I'll be away in Mexico from Dec 8th-18th, and with FM11 not playing on this new laptop it also means that I can't play when I'm in London for a few days before (I plan to head back down to Kent the day after my return) either so hopefully today will be the first of a productive couple of weeks before then, especially as I can actually play a bit faster now with nothing else running on the older laptop and the ability to play/write multitask a lot better on multiple machines where before either I had to pause if I wanted to write something during a match or have the game waiting for me while I did so without my realizing it had finished whatever processing it was doing, so it's actually working out rather well. I would even have been able to continue through the evening and do a pre-season update if it wasn't for the State Championship/Libertadores matches starting early and I didn't fancy dealing with those as well right now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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